Why does ArcMap mess up with the order of fields when importing a txt?

[Nicole_Ueberschär]

I thought first I should put it as a discussion but actually I am interested in an answer...

More details on my question: 

When I open (drag&drop) a txt file (table) to my mxd, the order of the fields is randomly changed compared to what I see in excel or an text editor. For example, the first two columns end up being colums 18 and 19, column 8 becomes column 20. When I export it to the gdb I have my old order back. 

It is not really a problem at the moment but I am a bit confused why ArcMap does this. 

[DanPatterson_Retired]

image missing

[DanPatterson_Retired]

but on a guess it could be an internal sorting issue...

a = ['A', 'a', 'aA', 'B', 'b']

a
Out[2]: ['A', 'a', 'aA', 'B', 'b']

a.sort()

a
Out[4]: ['A', 'B', 'a', 'aA', 'b']‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

If not, a good lesson in what is expected, isn't always what 'is'

[Nicole_Ueberschär · Accepted solution]

This is how the table looks like after I opened the txt in ArcMap: 

This is how the table looks like after I exported it into the gdb (which is the correct order of columns):

So what I can say (just seeing it now :-)) is that ArcMap seems to display first those columns that have valid field names and after that those columns that have blanks or special characters in the original field name, thus are converted into alias names. 

Good to know...

[DanPatterson_Retired]

It seems to drop a lot of fields as well,

it would have been useful to see the original and alias name list for testing purposes.

[Nicole_Ueberschär]

It's a very long table that's why not all field names are visible. From what I found until now, none of the fields is dropped, just moved to a different column. 

I am happy to share with you a file with the field names (will come by pm).

[DanPatterson_Retired]

thanks