├── testfiles
    ├── 1.txt
    ├── 10.txt
    └── 2.txt
├── NaturalSort.ps1
└── README.md


/testfiles/1.txt:
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1 | 


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/testfiles/10.txt:
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1 | 


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/testfiles/2.txt:
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1 | 


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/NaturalSort.ps1:
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 1 | 
 2 | function Sort-Naturally
 3 | {
 4 |     PARAM(
 5 |         [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true)]
 6 |         [System.Collections.ArrayList]$Array,
 7 |         [String]$Property,
 8 |         [switch]$Descending
 9 |     )
10 | 
11 |     Add-Type -TypeDefinition @'
12 | using System;
13 | using System.Collections;
14 | using System.Collections.Generic;
15 | using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
16 | 
17 | namespace NaturalSort {
18 |     public static class NaturalSort
19 |     {
20 |         [DllImport("shlwapi.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
21 |         public static extern int StrCmpLogicalW(string psz1, string psz2);
22 | 
23 |         public static System.Collections.ArrayList Sort(System.Collections.ArrayList foo)
24 |         {
25 |             foo.Sort(new NaturalStringComparer());
26 |             return foo;
27 |         }
28 |     }
29 | 
30 |     public class NaturalStringComparer : IComparer
31 |     {
32 |         public int Compare(object x, object y)
33 |         {
34 |             return NaturalSort.StrCmpLogicalW(x.ToString(), y.ToString());
35 |         }
36 |     }
37 | }
38 | '@
39 |     if($Property)
40 |     {
41 |         $ArrayTmp = @{}
42 |         foreach($obj in $Array)
43 |         {
44 |             $ArrayTmp.Add(("{0}_{1}" -f $obj.$Property, $obj.GetHashCode()), $obj)
45 |         }
46 |         $Keys = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
47 |         $Keys.AddRange(@($ArrayTmp.Keys))
48 |         $Keys.Sort((New-Object NaturalSort.NaturalStringComparer))
49 |         $Array.Clear()
50 |         foreach($k in $Keys)
51 |         {
52 |             $Array.Add($ArrayTmp[$k]) | Out-Null
53 |         }
54 |     }
55 |     else
56 |     {
57 |         $Array.Sort((New-Object NaturalSort.NaturalStringComparer))
58 |     }
59 |     if($Descending)
60 |     {
61 |         $Array.Reverse()
62 |     }
63 |     return $Array
64 | }
65 | 


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/README.md:
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 1 | 
 2 | ## Sort?
 3 | 
 4 | You may notice "sort" in Windows explorer is different from other programs.
 5 | 
 6 | Windows explorer is using `natural sort`, which in many cases more like a `human`.
 7 | 
 8 | ## Natural sort?
 9 | 
10 | Windows explorer uses a legacy API in `shlwapi.dll` named `StrCmpLogicalW` on sorting strings.
11 | 
12 | ## I want use `Natural sort` in my powershell script.
13 | 
14 | ### Sort string array
15 | ```powershell
16 | PS> # Load the function
17 | PS> . .\NaturalSort.ps1
18 | PS>
19 | PS> # Typical use
20 | PS> Sort-Naturally -Array @('2', '1', '11')
21 | 1
22 | 2
23 | 11
24 | PS> # Typical use, via pipeline
25 | PS> ,@('2', '1', '11') | Sort-Naturally
26 | 1
27 | 2
28 | 11
29 | PS> # For compare, if regular sort is used
30 | PS> @('2', '1', '11') | Sort-Object
31 | 1
32 | 11
33 | 2
34 | ```
35 | 
36 | ### Sort object array
37 | ```powershell
38 | PS>
39 | PS> # Not good
40 | PS> $t = ls .\testfiles\*.txt
41 | PS> $t | Sort-Object
42 | 1.txt
43 | 10.txt
44 | 2.txt
45 | PS>
46 | PS> # Good result
47 | PS> Sort-Naturally -Array $t
48 | 1.txt
49 | 2.txt
50 | 10.txt
51 | PS> ,$t | Sort-Naturally
52 | 1.txt
53 | 2.txt
54 | 10.txt
55 | ```
56 | 
57 | ### Sort object array by member property
58 | ```powershell
59 | PS> 
60 | PS> # Sort by a selected property
61 | PS> $t = @()
62 | PS> $t += New-Object PSObject -Property @{Name = "1"; ID = "2"}
63 | PS> $t += New-Object PSObject -Property @{Name = "10"; ID = "1"}
64 | PS> $t += New-Object PSObject -Property @{Name = "2"; ID = "10"}
65 | PS> $t
66 | ID Name
67 | -- ----
68 | 2  1   
69 | 1  10  
70 | 10 2   
71 | PS> ,$t | Sort-Naturally -Property ID
72 | ID Name
73 | -- ----
74 | 1  10  
75 | 2  1   
76 | 10 2   
77 | PS> ,$t | Sort-Naturally -Property Name
78 | ID Name
79 | -- ----
80 | 2  1   
81 | 10 2   
82 | 1  10  
83 | PS> $tt = ls .\testfiles
84 | PS> ,$tt | Sort-Naturally -Property Name -Descending
85 | Name  
86 | ----  
87 | 10.txt
88 | 2.txt 
89 | 1.txt 
90 | PS> 
91 | PS> 
92 | PS> 
93 | ```
94 | 


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