UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I have a directory with a large number (1000s) of files and I need to produce a file listing all the files in the directory ordered "properly" (properly will be explained shortly).

The files have the following naming pattern:

bul_13_5_228_b.txt
bul_1_3_57.txt
bul_13_6_229.txt
bul_13_6_258.txt
bul_13_6_260.txt
bul_1_3_65.txt
bul_1_3_71.txt
bul_13_7_261.txt
bul_13_7_264.txt

Where field:
1 = "bul" and doesn't change
2 = range from 1 to 30
3 = range from 1 to 12
4 = range from 1 to the 1000s

The sorting pattern I want would sort the 2nd field first, in standard order (1, 2, 3... 10, 11 12...) then the 3rd field (1, 2, 3...) and finally the 4th field.

So, using the file names above as an example, the resulting file would sort like this:

bul_1_3_57.txt
bul_1_3_65.txt
bul_1_3_71.txt
bul_13_5_228_b.txt
bul_13_6_229.txt
bul_13_6_258.txt
bul_13_6_260.txt
bul_13_7_261.txt
bul_13_7_264.txt

I've tried variations of ls | sort and find but cannot seem to get this to work right.

Thanks.
Frank

Try

Code:

ls -1 yourdir | sort -t "_" -n -k2,2 -k3,3 -k4,4

Thanks. That worked perfectly. I figured sort was capable of this, but the documentation is sort of lacking.

Best,
Frank