# Mac Finder Supplements



## Kent (Aug 29, 2019)

Hi all,

I need to sort the contents of some folders either by timestamp (not date-) or file name length.

What do you use for this purpose?


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## TGV (Aug 30, 2019)

What do you mean by "timestamp"?

Sorting by file name length I would do in the terminal: cd to the directory, and enter the command: ls -1 | awk '{print length($0) "\t" $0;}' | sort -n

If you've never worked with the terminal (or the DOS command prompt) before, you might want to follow a tutorial first.


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## Kent (Aug 30, 2019)

TGV said:


> What do you mean by "timestamp"?


As in, for example, a file that was created at 10:30 AM comes before a file that was created at 12:01 PM comes before a file that was created at 12:02 PM comes before a file that was created at 12:05 PM, even though they're all created on the same day.

Working in the terminal is not a problem, though I was hoping for something more plug and chug - there are a number of folders I'd need to organize this way, and maybe toggle the organization between that and (for example) file name alphabetization, so it would be nice to find something with toggle-able options.


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## ankely (Aug 30, 2019)

Maybe Pathfinder. Very handy app: https://cocoatech.com/#/


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## Kent (Aug 30, 2019)

ankely said:


> Maybe Pathfinder. Very handy app: https://cocoatech.com/#/


This looks promising. I’ll take a deeper look into it tomorrow.


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## TGV (Aug 31, 2019)

kmaster said:


> a file that was created at 10


That's built in: open a folder in list mode, then pick "Show View Options" from the View menu, and add "Date Created" to the list of columns. Then you can sort by that column from latest to oldest or the other way around.


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## Kent (Aug 31, 2019)

TGV said:


> That's built in: open a folder in list mode, then pick "Show View Options" from the View menu, and add "Date Created" to the list of columns. Then you can sort by that column from latest to oldest or the other way around.


No, that doesn’t sort by Time, just Date. I need a more granular sorting.


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## Jeremy Gillam (Aug 31, 2019)

Adobe Bridge might work for that


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## TGV (Sep 1, 2019)

kmaster said:


> No, that doesn’t sort by Time, just Date. I need a more granular sorting.


I'm fairly sure it works like that: I can get my files sorted by the second. But you should be in view "As List", and not in some "Group by date added".


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## Kent (Sep 1, 2019)

TGV said:


> But you should be in view "As List", and not in some "Group by date added".


Egad!


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## Nick Batzdorf (Sep 1, 2019)

kmaster said:


> I need to sort the contents of some folders either by timestamp (not date-)



Same thing in the Finder.


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