What is the shortest way in .NET to sort strings s

Question

I need to sort file names as follows: 1.log, 2.log, 10.log

But when I use OrderBy(fn => fn) it will sort them as: 1.log, 10.log, 2.log

I obviously know that this could be done by writing another comparer, but is there a simpler way to change from lexicographical order to natural sort order?

Edit: the objective is to obtain the same ordering as when selecting "order by name" in Windows Explorer.

Answer 1

The simplest (not necessarily fastest/optimal) way would be IMHO to left-pad them all to some predefined maximum length with zeroes. I.e.

var data = new[] { "1.log", "10.log", "2.log" };
data.OrderBy(x => x.PadLeft(10, '0')).Dump();

Answer 2

You should take one of these

• http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/iangblog/2007/12/13/natural-sorting
• http://www.davekoelle.com/alphanum.html