Modify sort ordering for `ls`

Modify sort ordering for `ls`

[Daniel Li]

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Hi all,

I noticed on Mac, ls -l sorts a dot (.) before alphanumerics, which I
consider to be correct for purposes of tab completion:

-rw-r--r--  1 dan  dan  0B Aug 18 13:20 VeryLongFileName.scala
-rw-r--r--  1 dan  dan  0B Aug 18 13:20 VeryLongFileNameHelper.scala

Whereas on Ubuntu, ls -l gives the reverse:

-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 0 Aug 18 13:22 VeryLongFileNameHelper.scala
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 0 Aug 18 13:22 VeryLongFileName.scala

On the flip side, Zsh on Mac sorts a dot after a dash (-), which for
purposes of tab completion feels unnatural:

-rw-r--r--  1 dan  dan  0B Aug 18 13:22 data-extra.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 dan  dan  0B Aug 18 13:22 data.bin

On Ubuntu, this behavior is again reversed:

-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 0 Aug 18 13:22 data.bin
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 0 Aug 18 13:22 data-extra.bin

Is it possible to manually specify (say, in .zshrc or an LS_* env var) the
sort ordering? If not, can this feature be added?

Regards,

Daniel Li

*Daniel Li*
Senior Backend Engineer at Tubi TV

560 Mission St, Suite 1301

San Francisco, CA 94105

Re: Modify sort ordering for `ls`

[Daniel Li]

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To clarify, this inconsistent sort ordering manifests both when using ls as
well as when doing tab completion.  It probably shows up in other places in
Zsh as well.

Re: Modify sort ordering for `ls`

[Phil Pennock]

On 2017-08-18 at 13:32 -0700, Daniel Li wrote:
> Whereas on Ubuntu, ls -l gives the reverse:
> 
> -rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 0 Aug 18 13:22 VeryLongFileNameHelper.scala
> -rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 0 Aug 18 13:22 VeryLongFileName.scala

export LC_COLLATE=POSIX

1. The default sort ordering is driven by locale.
2. Zsh can do things about results of stuff driven by zsh, including
   glob expansion.
3. The above is not using zsh glob expansion.
4. How ls(1) works should be documented in its man-page and other than
   via the environment, Zsh can't do anything here.  There's no
   environment variables _we_ can add to _your_ system ls.

Ultimately, if you can't find a locale collation which works for your
purposes, you can dive deep and write your own collation specification.
If your OS allows use of private locale definitions, then these should
work in _all_ locale-aware applications, not just ls(1).

http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009696699/utilities/localedef.html
http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009696699/basedefs/xbd_chap07.html

Re: Modify sort ordering for `ls`

[Daniel Li]

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That's just what I'm looking for.  Thanks!

Daniel Li


*Daniel Li*
Senior Backend Engineer at Tubi TV

560 Mission St, Suite 1301

San Francisco, CA 94105

On Fri, Aug 18, 2017 at 1:44 PM, Phil Pennock <
zsh-workers+phil.pennock@spodhuis.org> wrote:

> On 2017-08-18 at 13:32 -0700, Daniel Li wrote:
> > Whereas on Ubuntu, ls -l gives the reverse:
> >
> > -rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 0 Aug 18 13:22 VeryLongFileNameHelper.scala
> > -rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 0 Aug 18 13:22 VeryLongFileName.scala
>
> export LC_COLLATE=POSIX
>
> 1. The default sort ordering is driven by locale.
> 2. Zsh can do things about results of stuff driven by zsh, including
>    glob expansion.
> 3. The above is not using zsh glob expansion.
> 4. How ls(1) works should be documented in its man-page and other than
>    via the environment, Zsh can't do anything here.  There's no
>    environment variables _we_ can add to _your_ system ls.
>
> Ultimately, if you can't find a locale collation which works for your
> purposes, you can dive deep and write your own collation specification.
> If your OS allows use of private locale definitions, then these should
> work in _all_ locale-aware applications, not just ls(1).
>
> http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009696699/utilities/localedef.html
> http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009696699/basedefs/xbd_chap07.html
>