Sort files numerically in bash

Question

I need to sort .flv files numerically and i was able to do it with the following command:

ls *\\.flv | sort --version-sort -f

but with many

Answer 1

I would try following code. Works on my testing scenario:

ls -1 *\.flv | sort -n -k1.2

The ls lists flv files 1 on each line, sort takes first (and only one) word on each line starting on second character (start of the number). Sorts numerically

Answer 2

Given a folder with sequentially named files from 1.flv to 9999.flv

ls -v1 *.flv

will output:

1.flv
2.flv
...
10.flv
...
90.flv
...
100.flv
101.flv
...
9999.flv

From the man page:

    -v     natural sort of (version) numbers within text
    -1     list one file per line

For brevity, the two flags above can be clubbed together as -v1.

Answer 3

to sort numerically after first character, try this :

sort -k1.2n