Thunar vs. 'ls' file sort order

emmemm11 · 2026-03-11 00:44:19

If I have a given directory containing files:

Picture.jpg
Picture 2.jpg
Picture A.jpg

Thunar displays them as shown above, but "ls -l" shows them

$ ls -l
total 1376
-rw-r--r-- 1 xxxxxx xxxxxx 387896 Mar  9 20:40 'Picture 2.JPG'
-rw-r--r-- 1 xxxxxx xxxxxx 387896 Mar  9 20:40 'Picture A.JPG'
-rw-r--r-- 1 xxxxxx xxxxxx 630154 Mar  9 20:40  Picture.JPG
$

Midnight Commander displays them like "ls", but Double Commander (the file manager I use) displays like Thunar.

Where this messes me up is when I am sorting out pictures - I have a graphics viewer (ristretto or nomacs) in one window and Thunar in another. As each file gets displayed, in the file manager I go to the one top of the list and either delete or move it elsewhere. When one of these "Picture" and "Picture 1" combinations come up I end up deleting or moving the wrong file if I'm not watching carefully.

Is there some way to make them all agree? I personally think Thunar is correct - why would a longer file name sort before a shorter one? - but good luck getting "ls" to change its behavior. I really don't care too much who is correct, but would like consistency.

ToZ · 2026-03-11 01:15:25

If you are using at least thunar version 4.21.3, there was a "smart-sort" hidden setting added that:

If enabled, filenames are split into collatable substrings and e.g. numbers are compared separately in a numeric way instead of comparing them digit-by-digit. If disabled, plain ASCII is used.

Perhaps this might be helpful?

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#1 2026-03-11 00:44:19

Thunar vs. 'ls' file sort order

#2 2026-03-11 01:15:25

Re: Thunar vs. 'ls' file sort order

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