diff --git a/scripts/viirs_scan_bytes.py b/scripts/viirs_scan_bytes.py
index feb23d58f8da7861678de418cf3ff34576e2f1b3..9d3ea84211ea40df3cab41074056907a5b2bfdf6 100755
--- a/scripts/viirs_scan_bytes.py
+++ b/scripts/viirs_scan_bytes.py
@@ -120,7 +120,10 @@ 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 sorted([l.strip() for l in args.rdrs]):
+
+    rdrfiles = sorted([l.strip() for l in args.rdrs],
+                      key=os.path.basename)
+    for filepath in rdrfiles:
         print "reading", filepath
         times, sizes = read_data_from_rdr(filepath, start, end)
 
@@ -131,13 +134,9 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 
         var = dataset['time']
         num_times = var.shape[0]
-        print 'time before', var.shape,
         var[num_times:] = np.array(list(times))
-        print 'after', var.shape
 
         var = dataset['size']
-        print 'size before', var.shape,
         var[:,num_times:] = dat
-        print 'after', var.shape
 
     dataset.close()