How do I sort strings alphabetically while accounting for value when a string is numeric

Question

I m trying to sort an array of numbers that are strings and I d like them to sort numerically   The catch is that I cannot convert the numbers into int   Here is the code   string   things  new string      105    101    102    103    90      foreach  var thing in things OrderBy x   gt  x         Console WriteLine thing       output  101  102  103  105  90  I d like  90  101  102  103  105  EDIT  The output can t be 090  101  102      Updated the code sample to say  things  instead of  sizes   The array can be something like this     string   things  new string      paul    bob    lauren    007    90       That means it needs to be sorted alphabetically and by number   007  90  bob  lauren  paul

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This seems a weird request and deserves a weird solution   string   sizes   new string      105    101    102    103    90      foreach  var size in sizes OrderBy x   gt        double sum   0      int position   0      foreach  char c in x ToCharArray   Reverse              sum     c - 48     int  Math Pow 10 position            position              return sum             Console WriteLine size

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There is a native function in windows StrCmpLogicalW that will compare in strings numbers as numbers instead of letters  It is easy to make a comparer that calls out to that function and uses it for it s comparisons   public class StrCmpLogicalComparer   Comparer lt string gt         DllImport  Shlwapi dll   CharSet   CharSet Unicode       private static extern int StrCmpLogicalW string x  string y        public override int Compare string x  string y                return StrCmpLogicalW x  y             It even works on strings that have both text and numbers  Here is a example program that will show the diffrence between the default sort and the StrCmpLogicalW sort  class Program       static void Main                 List lt string gt  items   new List lt string gt                           Example1 txt    Example2 txt    Example3 txt    Example4 txt    Example5 txt    Example6 txt    Example7 txt    Example8 txt    Example9 txt    Example10 txt                Example11 txt    Example12 txt    Example13 txt    Example14 txt    Example15 txt    Example16 txt    Example17 txt    Example18 txt    Example19 txt    Example20 txt                      items Sort             foreach  var item in items                        Console WriteLine item                      Console WriteLine             items Sort new StrCmpLogicalComparer              foreach  var item in items                        Console WriteLine item                     Console ReadLine              which outputs  Example1 txt Example10 txt Example11 txt Example12 txt Example13 txt Example14 txt Example15 txt Example16 txt Example17 txt Example18 txt Example19 txt Example2 txt Example20 txt Example3 txt Example4 txt Example5 txt Example6 txt Example7 txt Example8 txt Example9 txt  Example1 txt Example2 txt Example3 txt Example4 txt Example5 txt Example6 txt Example7 txt Example8 txt Example9 txt Example10 txt Example11 txt Example12 txt Example13 txt Example14 txt Example15 txt Example16 txt Example17 txt Example18 txt Example19 txt Example20 txt

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Value is a string  List   List OrderBy c   gt  c Value Length  ThenBy c   gt  c Value  ToList      Works

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And  how about this      string   sizes   new string      105    101    102    103    90      var size   from x in sizes            orderby x Length  x            select x   foreach  var p in size        Console WriteLine p

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public class Test       public void TestMethod                 List lt string gt  buyersList   new List lt string gt       5    10    1    str    3    string             List lt string gt  soretedBuyersList   null           soretedBuyersList   new List lt string gt  SortedList buyersList               public List lt string gt  SortedList List lt string gt  unsoredList                return unsoredList OrderBy o   gt  o  new SortNumericComparer    ToList                public class SortNumericComparer   IComparer lt string gt        public int Compare string x  string y                int xInt   0          int yInt   0          int result   -1           if   int TryParse x  out xInt                         result   1                     if int TryParse y  out yInt                         if result    -1                                result   xInt - yInt                                  else if result    1                         result   string Compare x  y  true                      return result

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try this   sizes OrderBy x   gt  Convert ToInt32 x   ToList lt string gt       Note  this will helpful when all are string convertable to int

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You say you cannot convert the numbers into int because the array can contain elements that cannot be converted to int  but there is no harm in trying   string   things   new string      105    101    102    103    90    paul    bob    lauren    007    90     Array Sort things  CompareThings    foreach  var thing in things      Debug WriteLine thing     Then compare like this   private static int CompareThings string x  string y        int intX  intY      if  int TryParse x  out intX   amp  amp  int TryParse y  out intY           return intX CompareTo intY        return x CompareTo y       Output  007  90  90  101  102  103  105  bob  lauren  paul

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My preferred solution  if all strings are numeric only       Order by numerical order   Assertion  all things are numeric strings only   foreach  var thing in things OrderBy int Parse         Console Writeline thing

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The answer given by Jeff Paulsen is correct but the Comprarer can be much simplified to this   public class SemiNumericComparer  IComparer lt string gt        public int Compare string s1  string s2                if  IsNumeric s1   amp  amp  IsNumeric s2             return Convert ToInt32 s1  - Convert ToInt32 s2           if  IsNumeric s1   amp  amp   IsNumeric s2               return -1           if   IsNumeric s1   amp  amp  IsNumeric s2               return 1           return string Compare s1  s2  true              public static bool IsNumeric object value                int result          return Int32 TryParse value  out result             This works because the only thing that is checked for the result of the Comparer is if the result is larger  smaller or equal to zero  One can simply subtract the values from another and does not have to handle the return values   Also the IsNumeric method should not have to use a try-block and can benefit from TryParse   And for those who are not sure  This Comparer will sort values so  that non numeric values are always appended to the end of the list  If one wants them at the beginning the second and third if block have to be swapped

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Try this out          string   things   new string      paul    bob    lauren    007    90    -10              List lt int gt  num   new List lt int gt             List lt string gt  str   new List lt string gt             for  int i   0  i  lt  things Count    i                           int result              if  int TryParse things i   out result                                 num Add result                             else                               str Add things i                                Now Sort the lists and merge them back             var strsort   from s in str                       orderby s Length                       select s           var numsort   from n in num                      orderby n                      select n           for  int i   0  i  lt  things Count    i                        if i  lt  numsort Count                 things i    numsort ElementAt i  ToString                 else              things i    strsort ElementAt i - numsort Count                                       I jsut tried to make a contribution in this interesting question

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Even though this is an old question  I d like to give a solution   string   things  new string      105    101    102    103    90      foreach  var thing in things OrderBy x   gt  Int32 Parse x          Console WriteLine thing       Woha quite simple right   D

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Just pad with zeroes to the same length   int maxlen   sizes Max x   gt  x Length   var result   sizes OrderBy x   gt  x PadLeft maxlen   0

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public class NaturalSort  IComparer lt string gt               DllImport  shlwapi dll   CharSet   CharSet Unicode             public static extern int StrCmpLogicalW string x  string y              public int Compare string x  string y                               return StrCmpLogicalW x  y                   arr   arr OrderBy x    x  new NaturalSort    ToArray     The reason I needed it was to get filed in a directory whose filenames started with a number   public static FileInfo   GetFiles string path      return new DirectoryInfo path  GetFiles                                    OrderBy x   gt  x Name  new NaturalSort                                     ToArray

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namespace X       public class Utils               public class StrCmpLogicalComparer   IComparer lt Projects Sample gt                         DllImport  Shlwapi dll   CharSet   CharSet Unicode               private static extern int StrCmpLogicalW string x  string y                 public int Compare Projects Sample x  Projects Sample y                                string   ls1   x sample name Split                       string   ls2   y sample name Split                       string s1   ls1 0                   string s2   ls2 0                   return StrCmpLogicalW s1  s2

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Expanding on Jeff Paulsen answer  I wanted to make sure it didn t matter how many number or char groups were in the strings   public class SemiNumericComparer   IComparer lt string gt        public int Compare string s1  string s2                if  int TryParse s1  out var i1   amp  amp  int TryParse s2  out var i2                         if  i1  gt  i2                                return 1                             if  i1  lt  i2                                return -1                             if  i1    i2                                return 0                                   var text1   SplitCharsAndNums s1           var text2   SplitCharsAndNums s2            if  text1 Length  gt  1  amp  amp  text2 Length  gt  1                         for  var i   0  i  lt  Math Max text1 Length  text2 Length   i                                   if  text1 i     null  amp  amp  text2 i     null                                        var pos   Compare text1 i   text2 i                        if  pos    0                                                return pos                                                          else                                         text1 i  is null there for the string is shorter and comes before a longer string                      if  text1 i     null                                                return -1                                            if  text2 i     null                                                return 1                                                                           return string Compare s1  s2  true              private string   SplitCharsAndNums string text                var sb   new StringBuilder            for  var i   0  i  lt  text Length - 1  i                          if    char IsDigit text i    amp  amp  char IsDigit text i   1                        char IsDigit text i    amp  amp   char IsDigit text i   1                                   sb Append text i                    sb Append                                 else                               sb Append text i                                     sb Append text text Length - 1             return sb ToString   Split                 I also took SplitCharsAndNums from an SO Page after amending it to deal with file names

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This site discusses alphanumeric sorting and will sort the numbers in a logical sense instead of an ASCII sense   It also takes into account the alphas around it   http   www dotnetperls com alphanumeric-sorting  EXAMPLE    C  TestB 333 jpg 11 C  TestB 33 jpg 1 C  TestA 111 jpg 111F C  TestA 11 jpg 2 C  TestA 1 jpg 111D 22 111Z C  TestB 03 jpg      1 2 11 22 111D 111F 111Z C  TestA 1 jpg C  TestA 11 jpg C  TestA 111 jpg C  TestB 03 jpg C  TestB 33 jpg C  TestB 333 jpg   The code is as follows   class Program       static void Main string   args                var arr   new string                         C  TestB 333 jpg               11               C  TestB 33 jpg               1               C  TestA 111 jpg               111F               C  TestA 11 jpg               2               C  TestA 1 jpg               111D               22               111Z               C  TestB 03 jpg                     Array Sort arr  new AlphaNumericComparer             foreach var e in arr                Console WriteLine e                      public class AlphaNumericComparer   IComparer       public int Compare object x  object y                string s1   x as string          if  s1    null                        return 0                    string s2   y as string          if  s2    null                        return 0                     int len1   s1 Length          int len2   s2 Length          int marker1   0          int marker2   0              Walk through two the strings with two markers          while  marker1  lt  len1  amp  amp  marker2  lt  len2                        char ch1   s1 marker1               char ch2   s2 marker2                   Some buffers we can build up characters in for each chunk              char   space1   new char len1               int loc1   0              char   space2   new char len2               int loc2   0                  Walk through all following characters that are digits or                characters in BOTH strings starting at the appropriate marker                 Collect char arrays              do                               space1 loc1      ch1                  marker1                     if  marker1  lt  len1                                        ch1   s1 marker1                                     else                                       break                                  while  char IsDigit ch1     char IsDigit space1 0                  do                               space2 loc2      ch2                  marker2                     if  marker2  lt  len2                                        ch2   s2 marker2                                     else                                       break                                  while  char IsDigit ch2     char IsDigit space2 0                     If we have collected numbers  compare them numerically                 Otherwise  if we have strings  compare them alphabetically              string str1   new string space1               string str2   new string space2                int result               if  char IsDigit space1 0    amp  amp  char IsDigit space2 0                                  int thisNumericChunk   int Parse str1                   int thatNumericChunk   int Parse str2                   result   thisNumericChunk CompareTo thatNumericChunk                             else                               result   str1 CompareTo str2                              if  result    0                                return result                                  return len1 - len2

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Pass a custom comparer into OrderBy  Enumerable OrderBy will let you specify any comparer you like   This is one way to do that   void Main         string   things   new string      paul    bob    lauren    007    90    101         foreach  var thing in things OrderBy x   gt  x  new SemiNumericComparer                       Console WriteLine thing             public class SemiNumericComparer  IComparer lt string gt             lt summary gt          Method to determine if a string is a number          lt  summary gt           lt param name  value  gt String to test lt  param gt           lt returns gt True if numeric lt  returns gt      public static bool IsNumeric string value                return int TryParse value  out                     lt inheritdoc   gt      public int Compare string s1  string s2                const int S1GreaterThanS2   1          const int S2GreaterThanS1   -1           var IsNumeric1   IsNumeric s1           var IsNumeric2   IsNumeric s2            if  IsNumeric1  amp  amp  IsNumeric2                        var i1   Convert ToInt32 s1               var i2   Convert ToInt32 s2                if  i1  gt  i2                                return S1GreaterThanS2                             if  i1  lt  i2                                return S2GreaterThanS1                             return 0                     if  IsNumeric1                        return S2GreaterThanS1                     if  IsNumeric2                        return S1GreaterThanS2                     return string Compare s1  s2  true  CultureInfo InvariantCulture

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I guess this will be much more good if it has some numeric in the string   Hope it will help   PS I m not sure about performance or complicated string values but it worked good something like this   lorem ipsum lorem ipsum 1 lorem ipsum 2 lorem ipsum 3     lorem ipsum 20 lorem ipsum 21  public class SemiNumericComparer   IComparer lt string gt        public int Compare string s1  string s2                int s1r  s2r          var s1n   IsNumeric s1  out s1r           var s2n   IsNumeric s2  out s2r            if  s1n  amp  amp  s2n  return s1r - s2r          else if  s1n  return -1          else if  s2n  return 1           var num1   Regex Match s1     d              var num2   Regex Match s2     d               var onlyString1   s1 Remove num1 Index  num1 Length           var onlyString2   s2 Remove num2 Index  num2 Length            if  onlyString1    onlyString2                        if  num1 Success  amp  amp  num2 Success  return Convert ToInt32 num1 Value  - Convert ToInt32 num2 Value               else if  num1 Success  return 1              else if  num2 Success  return -1                     return string Compare s1  s2  true              public bool IsNumeric string value  out int result                return int TryParse value  out result

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Try this    string   things  new string      105    101    102    103    90      int tmpNumber   foreach  var thing in  things Where xx   gt  int TryParse xx  out tmpNumber   OrderBy xx   gt      int Parse xx    Concat things Where xx   gt   int TryParse xx  out tmpNumber   OrderBy xx   gt  xx          Console WriteLine thing

[c#] How do I sort strings alphabetically while accounting for value when a string is numeric?

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