In bash, how to sort strings with numbers in them?

linux bash sorting

53,806

Solution 1

Something like this might do what you want, though it takes a slightly different approach:

pdftk $(for n in {1..18}; do echo cwcch$n.pdf; done) cat output output.pdf

Solution 2

Your sort may have the ability to do this for you:

sort --version-sort

Solution 3

For this particular example you could also do this:

ls *.pdf | sort -k2 -th -n

That is, sort numerically (-n) on the second field (-k2) using 'h' as the field separator (-th).

Solution 4

You can use the -v option in GNU ls: natural sort of (version) numbers within text.

ls -1v cwcch*

This does not work with BSD ls (e.g. on OS X), where the -v option has a different meaning.

Solution 5

Here's a method just using sort:

ls | sort -k1.6n

View more solutions

53,806

ngm

Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

ngm over 1 year
If I have these files in a directory
```
cwcch10.pdf
cwcch11.pdf
cwcch12.pdf
cwcch13.pdf
cwcch14.pdf
cwcch15.pdf
cwcch16.pdf
cwcch17.pdf
cwcch18.pdf
cwcch1.pdf
cwcch2.pdf
cwcch3.pdf
cwcch4.pdf
cwcch5.pdf
cwcch6.pdf
cwcch7.pdf
cwcch8.pdf
cwcch9.pdf
```
how can I list them in Bash so that they are in ascending numeric order based on the number part of the string. So the resulting order is cwcch1.pdf, cwcch2.pdf, ..., cwcch9.pdf, cwcch10.pdf, etc.

What I'm ultimately trying to do is concatenate the pdfs with pdftk with something like the following
```
pdftk `ls *.pdf | sort -n` cat output output.pdf
```
but that doesn't work as my sorting is wrong.
ngm over 14 years

Aha, nice approach! It does indeed do what I what, thanks.
Dennis Williamson over 14 years

Perhaps a little more succinctly: pdftk cwcch{{1..9},{10..18}}.pdf ...
quack quixote over 14 years

good tip, added in. is that a standard Bourne shell expansion syntax or a bash extension?
Xen2050 over 8 years

Does this one liner work on the tmp file? Any output to paste into the answer?
Aguevara over 8 years

Yes. I included the output in my OP under the edit section.
panmari over 8 years

Excerpt of relevant entry in sort man page: -V, --version-sort natural sort of (version) numbers within text
eventhorizon almost 6 years

This is what you need. But if your sort does not supply this option take a look at this post: stackoverflow.com/a/4495368/1240018
davidparks21 almost 5 years

This is the most simple solution, it needs more upvotes folks!