diff --git a/marimo/_utils/files.py b/marimo/_utils/files.py
index 9f3c7db7d5e..076360c29cb 100644
--- a/marimo/_utils/files.py
+++ b/marimo/_utils/files.py
@@ -6,15 +6,11 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Union
 
+_num_split = re.compile("([0-9]+)").split
 
-def natural_sort(filename: str) -> list[Union[int, str]]:
-    def convert(text: str) -> Union[int, str]:
-        return int(text) if text.isdigit() else text.lower()
-
-    def alphanum_key(key: str) -> list[Union[int, str]]:
-        return [convert(c) for c in re.split("([0-9]+)", key)]
 
-    return alphanum_key(filename)
+def natural_sort(filename: str) -> list[Union[int, str]]:
+    return [int(c) if c.isdigit() else c.lower() for c in _num_split(filename)]
 
 
 def get_files(folder: str) -> Generator[Path, None, None]: