A PlainSift practical guide
Sort filenames so file2 comes before file10
Put numbered filenames and labels in a human-readable order without renaming them.
An alphabetical list can put file10 before file2 because it compares the text rather than treating each digit group as a number. Natural sorting compares embedded digit groups numerically. It is a useful choice for copied filenames, numbered lesson titles, and labels such as “Chapter 2” and “Chapter 10”.
Paste the names as one line per file. PlainSift reorders that text list only; it does not access a folder, rename files, or change an operating system’s file order. If the lines include full paths, the entire path participates in comparison, including directory names before the filename.
Start with Natural sort a listFree, no sign-up. Your pasted text stays in the browser workspace.
Step-by-step instructions
These steps use the default options shown in each tool. Add changes in the order listed.
Natural sort a list
Open Natural sort a list, paste the labels, and leave direction set to ascending. Run the pipeline and check the ordering before copying it.
Review the full output, then use Copy result or Download .txt.
Before and after
Input
report10.txt
report2.txt
report1.txt
report20.txtResult
report1.txt
report2.txt
report10.txt
report20.txtThe digit groups are compared as 1, 2, 10, and 20. The filename characters and extensions are unchanged.
Natural, alphabetical, or numeric?
Choose natural sort for mixed labels containing numbers. Choose Alphabetize a list when you want an English text comparison with numeric collation disabled. Choose Sort numbers when each complete line is a decimal or scientific-notation value, such as -3, 2.5, or 1e3.
Natural sorting is not a decimal parser, a date parser, or a semantic-version comparator. Punctuation separates digit groups rather than defining a numeric value. For version strings with prerelease rules, use a semantic-version-aware comparator; for dates in mixed formats, normalize the dates before sorting.
What happens to zeros, duplicates, and blank lines?
Leading zeros are preserved. Labels such as file02 and file2 may compare as equal under numeric collation; the stable sort then keeps their original relative order. It does not select a preferred spelling or remove one as a duplicate.
Blank and repeated lines remain in the sorted result. If those are unwanted, remove them before sorting. The comparison uses an explicit English collator, so ordering of accented characters and punctuation may differ from a file manager using another locale. Original Unicode characters are retained without normalization.
Common questions
Can I place the highest number first?
Select descending in Natural sort a list. This reverses the comparison direction while preserving the text of each line and keeping equal comparisons stable.
Why did a directory name affect the order?
The sorter compares each complete line. It does not extract a basename from a path. Paste filenames alone when you want to ignore the directory portion.