Python - Sort list of filepaths like Windows

Question

I'm currently working on trying to sort a list of string file paths in the same manor as Windows Explorer does. I've been looking at several natural/human sorting algorithms that have been posted (especially ones in the natsort package) but all of them have the same problem.

Given a directory containing files "0.jpg", "00.jpg" and "000.jpg", Windows will sort them in order of decreasing precision, that is: 000.jpg, 00.jpg. 0.jpg.

All of the algorithms I've tried will sort them in the opposite order. I'm not sure how to get the desired behavior. Any advice would be appreciated.

Sort => Invert? Windows will sort whichever way you choose, depending on whether that column is sorted in ascending or descending order... — SiHa
– SiHa, Commented Aug 14, 2015 at 7:09
Hey i don't know it might be very late, but i have added an answer with natsort which can do this job — Tamil Selvan
– Tamil Selvan, Commented Jan 2, 2022 at 18:14

Tamil Selvan · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-02 18:13:56Z

5

natsort python package can actually help in your case

from natsort import os_sorted
a = ["0.jpg","00.jpg","000.jpg"]
print(os_sorted(a))

Output:

['000.jpg', '00.jpg', '0.jpg']

answered Jan 2, 2022 at 18:13

Tamil Selvan

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codebox · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-14 09:32:48Z

2

This should work but it's a bit clunky:

Determine the longest file name in the list
Right-pad all file names to the length of the longest name with a high-value character that doesn't appear in any of the file names (such as '~') inserting it before the file extension
Sort as normal
Remove the inserted character before displaying the results

So

0.jpg, 00.jpg, 000.jpg, 1.jpg

becomes:

0~~.jpg, 00~.jpg, 000.jpg, 1~~.jpg

when sorted:

000.jpg, 00~.jpg, 0~~.jpg, 1~~.jpg

and finally:

000.jpg, 00.jpg, 0.jpg, 1.jpg

edited Aug 14, 2015 at 9:32

answered Aug 14, 2015 at 7:12

codebox

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2 Comments

Sean Goodwin Over a year ago

I ended up doing this, but instead of "~", I used chr(65535).

Sean Goodwin Over a year ago

Actually, scratch that. I found another edge case that get introduced with this method.

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