[SOLVED] macOS Terminal: `ls` sorts results with capitalised names first

Issue

How can I fix this default sorting behaviour for ls in the macOS Terminal? I want the results to be case-insensitive and alphabetised.

Here is an example to illustrate the current and desired behaviours when running ls in a directory with the files/directories: Apple_, apple, Basket_, basket

Current behaviour:

Apple_

Basket_

apple

basket

Desired behaviour:

Apple_

apple

Basket_

basket

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Does anyone know how to achieve this?

Solution

This no longer works

So @Yoric was very close, but the content of his function was a bit wrong: it would indeed sort the results alphabetically, but when using the `-la' flag, it would mess up the order of the "dot" files/directories (those beginning with a dot).

I found the correct solution by adapting the one in the following Stack Overflow post: Making the "ls" command sort "a" before "B" (vs a->b->A->B)

Steps:

1. Open/create your shell profile file in your home directory (~/). (This file is automatically run every time you launch the shell). This would be:

• .bash_profile if not using a configuration framework
• .zshrc if using zsh

2. Add the following code

---

ls_sort() {
  LC_COLLATE=en_US.utf8 ls "$@"
}

alias ls='ls_sort'

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3. Restart your Terminal

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Thank you @Yoric for helping me to get to this solution!

Answered By - Liran H

Answer Checked By - Cary Denson (WPSolving Admin)