cp will copy in any order, not alphanumeric

DaveQB · 01-10-2009, 01:17 PM

Hi,

I have now come across 2 devices that play back audio files back in timestamp order; the timestamp they were copied to the device.

I have found that cp and konqueror [and Windows for that matter] copy files in a real ad-hoc order, thus making the preservation of playlist orders impossible. So I have had to resort to copying each file, one-by-one in the order I want, alphanumeric.

Is this to be expected by cp ?

I have had to write a script now to get around this in a easier fashion
my blog post about this.

penguiniator · 01-10-2009, 04:33 PM

Yes, it is to be expected. The order of files on disk has nothing to do with their filenames, so if you want to copy files in alphanumeric filename order, a script is the way to go.

DaveQB · 01-10-2009, 09:04 PM

Interesting.

So curious, is it in inode order ?

penguiniator · 01-10-2009, 10:15 PM

Not necessarily. It depends on how the filesystem is designed. Inodes and filenames are not stored together, and filenames are not guaranteed to be in sort order.