Sorting for Humans : Natural Sort Order »

The default sort functions in almost every programming language are poorly suited for human consumption. What do I mean by that? Well, consider the difference between sorting filenames in Windows explorer, and sorting those very same filenames via Array.Sort() code:

Explorer shell sort	Array.Sort()

Quite a difference.

I can say without the slightest hint of exaggeration that this exact sorting problem has been a sore point on every single project I’ve ever…