diff --git a/src/import.c b/src/import.c
index f07307a..a21f24d 100644
--- a/src/import.c
+++ b/src/import.c
@@ -1932,8 +1932,7 @@ pthread_t thread_start(ldb_importation_config_t * job, pthread_t * tlist)
 }
 
 bool process_sectors(ldb_importation_config_t * job, pthread_t * tlist) {
-    DIR *dir;
-    struct dirent *ent;
+    struct dirent **ents;
 
 	/*Process one file with multiples sectors inside*/
 	if (*job->csv_path)
@@ -1953,25 +1952,25 @@ bool process_sectors(ldb_importation_config_t * job, pthread_t * tlist) {
 		}
 	}
 	
-	/*Process a directory with one sector per file*/
-    if ((dir = opendir(job->path)) != NULL) 
+	/*Process a directory with one sector per file, in alphabetical order
+	  (readdir returns the filesystem's order, e.g. hash order on ext4)*/
+	int n = scandir(job->path, &ents, NULL, alphasort);
+    if (n >= 0)
 	{
-		while ((ent = readdir(dir)) != NULL) 
+		for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
 		{
-            if (!strcmp(ent->d_name,".") || !strcmp(ent->d_name,"..")) 
-				continue;
-
-			if (ent->d_type == DT_REG) 
+			if (ents[i]->d_type == DT_REG)
 			{
-				snprintf(job->csv_path, LDB_MAX_PATH, "%s/%s", job->path, ent->d_name);
+				snprintf(job->csv_path, LDB_MAX_PATH, "%s/%s", job->path, ents[i]->d_name);
 				pthread_t tid = thread_start(job, tlist);
 				if (tid == 0)
 					ldb_import(job);
-            } 
+            }
+			free(ents[i]);
         }
 
-        closedir(dir);
-    } 
+        free(ents);
+    }
 	else 
 	{
        	log_info("Cannot open directory: %s\n", job->path);
diff --git a/test/test_kb_crc64 b/test/test_kb_crc64
index 0f4e5e5..7610d65 100644
--- a/test/test_kb_crc64
+++ b/test/test_kb_crc64
@@ -268,6 +268,28 @@ test_16_collate_dedup_ignores_stale_slot_bytes() {
     rm -rf "$tmpdir" /var/lib/ldb/test_kbdup /usr/local/etc/scanoss/ldb/test_kbdup.conf /var/log/scanoss/ldb/test_kbdup.log
 }
 
+#The files of a table folder are imported in alphabetical order, whatever order
+#the filesystem lists them in (readdir: creation order or hash order), so an
+#interrupted import leaves a clear boundary. The files are created in a mixed
+#order and imported one at a time (THREADS=1): the log shows the start order.
+test_17_import_files_in_alphabetical_order() {
+    rm -rf /var/lib/ldb/test_kborder /usr/local/etc/scanoss/ldb/test_kborder.conf /var/log/scanoss/ldb/test_kborder.log
+    tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
+    mkdir -p "$tmpdir/t1"
+    for s in 80 ff 00 10 0a; do
+        printf '%s00000000000001,record_%s\n' "$s" "$s" > "$tmpdir/t1/$s.csv"
+    done
+
+    echo "bulk insert test_kborder from $tmpdir with (KEYS=1,KEY_SIZE=8,FIELDS=2,SORT=0,THREADS=1,FILE_DEL=0,VALIDATE_VERSION=0)" | ../ldb -q
+
+    order=$(grep -oE "t1/[0-9a-f]{2}\.csv: 1 records imported" /var/log/scanoss/ldb/test_kborder.log | cut -c4-5 | paste -sd' ')
+    assert_equals "00 0a 10 80 ff" "$order" "the files of the table were not imported in alphabetical order"
+    result=$(echo "select from test_kborder/t1 key 0a00000000000001 csv hex 8" | ../ldb -q)
+    assert_equals "0a00000000000001,record_0a" "$result"
+
+    rm -rf "$tmpdir" /var/lib/ldb/test_kborder /usr/local/etc/scanoss/ldb/test_kborder.conf /var/log/scanoss/ldb/test_kborder.log
+}
+
 setup_suite () {
     echo 'bulk insert test_kb from source_crc64/mined with (KEY_SIZE=8)' | ../ldb
 }
@@ -278,4 +300,5 @@ teardown_suite () {
     # test_14 leaves an ~86 MB sector behind when it fails before its own cleanup
     rm -rf /var/lib/ldb/test_kbcap /usr/local/etc/scanoss/ldb/test_kbcap.conf /var/log/scanoss/ldb/test_kbcap.log
     rm -rf /var/lib/ldb/test_kbdup /usr/local/etc/scanoss/ldb/test_kbdup.conf /var/log/scanoss/ldb/test_kbdup.log
+    rm -rf /var/lib/ldb/test_kborder /usr/local/etc/scanoss/ldb/test_kborder.conf /var/log/scanoss/ldb/test_kborder.log
 }
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