# FINDER - macOS - sort by Name **URL:** \ **Category:** Other\ **Created:** [29 November 2020 23:56 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375 "2020-11-29T23:56:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/daves/32/79_2.png) [@DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/u/DaveS)\ **Post date:** [29 November 2020 23:56 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/1 "2020-11-29T23:56:21Z")
Has anyone else noticed when you tell Finder to “sort by name” its strange? I have 255 files named “file$XX.dat” where XX is 00 to FF now I don’t expect them to be sorted in NUMERIC order… but I don’t expect THIS order ```auto $5E $5F $06 $6A $6B $07 $08 $09 $10 ..... $19 $21 ...$33 $40 ``` I would expect them to be sort by the alphanumeric name ```auto $00 ... $0F $10....$1F etc. ``` ---
**Author:** ![npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/npalardy/32/10_2.png) [@npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/u/npalardy)\ **Post date:** [30 November 2020 00:44 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/2 "2020-11-30T00:44:42Z")
how truly curious ---
**Author:** ![DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/daves/32/79_2.png) [@DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/u/DaveS)\ **Post date:** [30 November 2020 00:58 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/3 "2020-11-30T00:58:48Z")
yes, yes it is… not only that but the Xcode Asset Catalog, sorts them the same strange way ---
**Author:** ![npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/npalardy/32/10_2.png) [@npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/u/npalardy)\ **Post date:** [30 November 2020 03:18 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/4 "2020-11-30T03:18:52Z")
as does this method I wrote about “Sorting like finder” way back > **[Sort like Finder – Writings from the sticks](https://www.great-white-software.com/blog/2019/10/07/sort-like-finder/)** Its really curious since its not considering the $XX part as numeric OR lexical Very odd ---
**Author:** ![DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/daves/32/79_2.png) [@DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/u/DaveS)\ **Post date:** [30 November 2020 06:08 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/5 "2020-11-30T06:08:02Z")
but in any comparison method… ."$06" is LESS than “$5E” … ☹ It makes it really hard to find a file (via EyeBall Reader 1.0) when they are not in the order expected. ---
**Author:** ![samRowlands](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/samrowlands/32/121_2.png) [@samRowlands](https://ifnotnil.com/u/samRowlands)\ **Post date:** [30 November 2020 06:10 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/6 "2020-11-30T06:10:13Z")
Unless it ignores the $ and the leading zero. ---
**Author:** ![DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/daves/32/79_2.png) [@DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/u/DaveS)\ **Post date:** [30 November 2020 06:23 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/7 "2020-11-30T06:23:02Z")
true… but its still “wrong” ---
**Author:** ![DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/daves/32/79_2.png) [@DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/u/DaveS)\ **Post date:** [30 November 2020 06:31 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/8 "2020-11-30T06:31:57Z")
I have found articles that discuss this (or something similar) and eludes to a difference between “sort by” and “arrange by”… but none of the “solutions” seem to be able to be applied in Catalina ---
**Author:** ![samRowlands](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/samrowlands/32/121_2.png) [@samRowlands](https://ifnotnil.com/u/samRowlands)\ **Post date:** [30 November 2020 07:26 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/9 "2020-11-30T07:26:03Z")
If that is the case, someone (probably an intern or someone with reduced experience) thinks that it is right \ ---
**Author:** ![MonkeybreadSoftware](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/monkeybreadsoftware/32/451_2.png) [@MonkeybreadSoftware](https://ifnotnil.com/u/MonkeybreadSoftware)\ **Post date:** [30 November 2020 08:46 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/10 "2020-11-30T08:46:40Z")
I also have [NSStringArraySortMBS](https://www.monkeybreadsoftware.net/global-nsstringarraysortmbs.shtml) in the plugin, which sorts a Xojo array using [NSStringCompareMBS](https://www.monkeybreadsoftware.net/global-nsstringcomparembs.shtml), which also uses Apple’s sorting including the sort by number option. Seems like it doesn’t work for hex numbers, but it works fine for numbers. ---
**Author:** ![npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/npalardy/32/10_2.png) [@npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/u/npalardy)\ **Post date:** [30 November 2020 14:56 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/11 "2020-11-30T14:56:14Z")
> [@DaveS](#): > > but in any comparison method… .“$06” is LESS than “$5E” … ☹ Yeah I cant figure what they are doing that things come out the ay they are Its not obvious ---
**Author:** ![DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/daves/32/79_2.png) [@DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/u/DaveS)\ **Post date:** [30 November 2020 15:30 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/12 "2020-11-30T15:30:32Z")
Christian… its not a “hex” number it is two alphanumeric characters. Finder should not be attempting to derive a “context” from a file name ---
**Author:** ![Meestor\_X](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/meestor_x/32/567_2.png) [@Meestor\_X](https://ifnotnil.com/u/Meestor_X)\ **Post date:** [1 December 2020 23:57 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/13 "2020-12-01T23:57:21Z")
Looks to me like: 1. Strip the non-numeric part of the string 2. Take a Val() of the remaining number and order it by that. ---
**Author:** ![DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/daves/32/79_2.png) [@DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/u/DaveS)\ **Post date:** [1 December 2020 23:59 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/14 "2020-12-01T23:59:13Z")
This is not sorting filenames using Xojo… it is sorting them in Finder… so no manipulation of the filename is possible ---
**Author:** ![Meestor\_X](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/meestor_x/32/567_2.png) [@Meestor\_X](https://ifnotnil.com/u/Meestor_X)\ **Post date:** [2 December 2020 00:02 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/15 "2020-12-02T00:02:40Z")
> [@DaveS](#): > > This is not sorting filenames using Xojo… it is sorting them in Finder… so no manipulation of the filename is possible I get that. Just my take on what MacOS is doing “under the hood”. No idea why… Are you seeing the same thing if the files don’t have the “$” prefix? ---
**Author:** ![DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/daves/32/79_2.png) [@DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/u/DaveS)\ **Post date:** [2 December 2020 00:50 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/16 "2020-12-02T00:50:52Z")
I created another set of files that used $xxx where xxx was completely numeric, and those sorted correctly ---
**Author:** ![Tim](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/tim/32/13_2.png) [@Tim](https://ifnotnil.com/u/Tim)\ **Post date:** [2 December 2020 01:32 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/17 "2020-12-02T01:32:04Z")
You know what it looks like to me? It looks like handling designed to accommodate designers, these weird people who don’t source control their work, who might name a document: ```auto Doc-a Doc-a1 Doc-a1-good Doc-a1-new-good ``` and so on… ---
**Author:** ![DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/daves/32/79_2.png) [@DaveS](https://ifnotnil.com/u/DaveS)\ **Post date:** [2 December 2020 01:47 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/18 "2020-12-02T01:47:22Z")
> [@DaveS](#): > > `$5E $5F $06 $6A $6B $07 $08 $09 $10 ..... $19 $21 ...$33 $40` That doesn’t explain seeing this order… ---
**Author:** ![npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/npalardy/32/10_2.png) [@npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/u/npalardy)\ **Post date:** [2 December 2020 01:58 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/19 "2020-12-02T01:58:47Z")
thats about what I thought it might be doing but that would give something different than $5E $5F $06 $6A $6B $07 $08 $09 $10 … $19 $21 …$33 $40 as the $06 $07 $08 $09 would be closer to the beginning of the list Its really a weird organization ---
**Author:** ![Meestor\_X](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/meestor_x/32/567_2.png) [@Meestor\_X](https://ifnotnil.com/u/Meestor_X)\ **Post date:** [2 December 2020 02:06 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375/20 "2020-12-02T02:06:13Z")
Did you guys not see my earlier reply? 🕶 MacOS treats numbers as a single character for sorting. The list is sorted exactly the way MacOS was designed to. Stupidly. But that’s the way it’s done it for like 20 years. > **[Sort order of alphanumeric file names in … - Apple Community](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1317720)** [Next page](https://ifnotnil.com/t/finder-macos-sort-by-name/1375.md?page=2)