fix!: sort table names (#619)

https://github.com/lancedb/lance/issues/1385

python/lancedb/db.py

@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ class LanceDBConnection(DBConnection):
         return self._uri
 
     def table_names(self) -> list[str]:
-        """Get the names of all tables in the database.
+        """Get the names of all tables in the database. The names are sorted.
 
         Returns
         -------
@@ -287,6 +287,7 @@ class LanceDBConnection(DBConnection):
             for file_info in paths
             if file_info.extension == "lance"
         ]
+        tables.sort()
         return tables
 
     def __len__(self) -> int:

python/tests/test_db.py

@@ -150,6 +150,21 @@ def test_ingest_iterator(tmp_path):
     run_tests(PydanticSchema)
 
 
+def test_table_names(tmp_path):
+    db = lancedb.connect(tmp_path)
+    data = pd.DataFrame(
+        {
+            "vector": [[3.1, 4.1], [5.9, 26.5]],
+            "item": ["foo", "bar"],
+            "price": [10.0, 20.0],
+        }
+    )
+    db.create_table("test2", data=data)
+    db.create_table("test1", data=data)
+    db.create_table("test3", data=data)
+    assert db.table_names() == ["test1", "test2", "test3"]
+
+
 def test_create_mode(tmp_path):
     db = lancedb.connect(tmp_path)
     data = pd.DataFrame(

rust/vectordb/src/database.rs

@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ impl Database {
     ///
     /// * A [Vec<String>] with all table names.
     pub async fn table_names(&self) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
-        let f = self
+        let mut f = self
             .object_store
             .read_dir(self.base_path.clone())
             .await?
@@ -175,7 +175,8 @@ impl Database {
                 is_lance.unwrap_or(false)
             })
             .filter_map(|p| p.file_stem().and_then(|s| s.to_str().map(String::from)))
-            .collect();
+            .collect::<Vec<String>>();
+        f.sort();
         Ok(f)
     }
 
@@ -312,8 +313,8 @@ mod tests {
         let db = Database::connect(uri).await.unwrap();
         let tables = db.table_names().await.unwrap();
         assert_eq!(tables.len(), 2);
-        assert!(tables.contains(&String::from("table1")));
-        assert!(tables.contains(&String::from("table2")));
+        assert!(tables[0].eq(&String::from("table1")));
+        assert!(tables[1].eq(&String::from("table2")));
     }
 
     #[tokio::test]