Naturally Sort Files in Batch

Question

I have a folder with 20 some files and am wanting to sort them similar to the way Windows Explorer does. The files I have all have prefixes of block sizes like so:

1024KB.log
32KB.log
64KB.log
4KB.log
256KB.log
512KB.log

But when I sort them in batch, it only looks at the first digit then sorts them like so:

1024KB.log
256KB.log
32KB.log
4KB.log
512KB.log
64KB.log

I want to sort them by smallest to largest block size. Any ideas?

EDIT: I also have to keep the file name integrity because I then call another script which uses the file names and creates strings.

You can combine [this question's answer](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4399475/unformat-disk-size-strings) with numeric sort. — Danstahr, Oct 10 '13 at 14:06

foxidrive · Answer 1 · 2013-10-10T14:34:33.387

3

Take Command - the CMD.EXE replacement has natural sorting.

If you can pad the filenames with zeros then a normal sort will return them ok.

This code will return them sorted numerically:

@echo off
type nul>1024KB.log
type nul>32KB.log
type nul>64KB.log
type nul>4KB.log
type nul>256KB.log
type nul>512KB.log

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for %%a in (*.log) do (
set num=0000000000%%a
set num=!num:~-14!
set $!num!=%%a
)
for /f "tokens=1,* delims==" %%a in ('set $0') do echo %%b
pause

edited Oct 10 '13 at 14:34

answered Oct 10 '13 at 14:07

foxidrive

40,353
10
53
68

The question is a bit unclear about this, but what if the file's name is something like ```20M.log```? – Danstahr Oct 10 '13 at 14:14
@Danstahr That's a valid point. I just noticed that some filenames have K as a suffix and in the desired listing they are shown as KB. – foxidrive Oct 10 '13 at 14:20
That is a good point. The conversion you posted above would work but how would I use a numeric sort. Wouldn't it do the same thing? – user2847371 Oct 10 '13 at 14:22
Will there only be a KB suffix? – foxidrive Oct 10 '13 at 14:27
@foxidrive Yes, I believe that there will only be a KB suffix – user2847371 Oct 10 '13 at 14:31
Did you run it as shown? Test that first as it works here. Put the batch file in an empty folder and run it, so it doesn't nuke your existing files. – foxidrive Oct 10 '13 at 14:47

Naturally Sort Files in Batch

1 Answers1

Linked