diff --git a/scripts/viirs_scan_bytes.py b/scripts/viirs_scan_bytes.py
index 42869fe4053c2e40d24f3ce7bfae1766dbb861b6..feb23d58f8da7861678de418cf3ff34576e2f1b3 100755
--- a/scripts/viirs_scan_bytes.py
+++ b/scripts/viirs_scan_bytes.py
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     start, end = utc2tai(args.start), utc2tai(args.end)
     destpath = args.start.strftime('viirs_scanbytes_d%Y%m%d_t%H%M%S.nc')
     dataset = create_netcdf_file(destpath)
-    for filepath in [l.strip() for l in args.rdrs]:
+    for filepath in sorted([l.strip() for l in args.rdrs]):
         print "reading", filepath
         times, sizes = read_data_from_rdr(filepath, start, end)