[R] Ordering Filenames stored in list or vector

[Boris Steipe]

The thread below has a number of solutions. I personally like the one with sprintf().
   https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2010-July/246059.html


B.

On Dec 4, 2015, at 5:51 AM, BARLAS Marios 247554 <Marios.BARLAS at cea.fr> wrote:

> Hello everyone,
> 
> I am an R rookie and I'm learning as I program.
> 
> I am working on a script to process a large amount of data: I read a pattern of filenames in the folder I want and import their data
> 
> filenames = list.files(path, pattern="*Q_Read_prist*")
> 
> myfiles = lapply(filenames, function(x) read.xlsx2(file=x, sheetName="Data", header=TRUE, FILENAMEVAR=x))
> 
> The problem is that R recognizes the files in a 'non human' order.
> 
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 1.xls   Q_Read_prist#1 at 1.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 10.xls Q_Read_prist#1 at 10.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 11.xls Q_Read_prist#1 at 11.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 12.xls Q_Read_prist#1 at 12.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 13.xls Q_Read_prist#1 at 13.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 14.xls Q_Read_prist#1 at 14.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 15.xls Q_Read_prist#1 at 15.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 16.xls Q_Read_prist#1 at 16.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 17.xls Q_Read_prist#1 at 17.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 18.xls Q_Read_prist#1 at 18.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 19.xls Q_Read_prist#1 at 19.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 2.xls   Q_Read_prist#1 at 2.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 3.xls   Q_Read_prist#1 at 3.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 4.xls   Q_Read_prist#1 at 4.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 5.xls   Q_Read_prist#1 at 5.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 6.xls   Q_Read_prist#1 at 6.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 7.xls   Q_Read_prist#1 at 7.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 8.xls   Q_Read_prist#1 at 8.xls
> Q_Read_prist#1 at 9.xls   Q_Read_prist#1 at 9.xls
> 
> I tried to order them using order or sort but it doesn' seem to work. I have had the same issue in matlab but there I have a function to re-define the order in a "correct" way.
> 
> Anyone knows of a smart way to sort these guys from 1 to 19 ascending or descending?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Mario
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
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