diff --git a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.h b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.h
--- a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.h
+++ b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.h
@@ -47,17 +47,11 @@
  */
 KDEVPLATFORMLANGUAGE_EXPORT bool matchesAbbreviationMulti(const QString& word, const QStringList& typedFragments);
 
-enum class PathFilterMatchQuality
-{
-  NoMatch,
-  ExactMatch,
-  StartMatch,
-  OtherMatch
-};
 /**
  * @brief Matches a path against a list of search fragments.
+ * @return -1 when no match is found, otherwise a positive integer, higher values mean lower quality
  */
-KDEVPLATFORMLANGUAGE_EXPORT PathFilterMatchQuality matchPathFilter(const Path& toFilter, const QStringList& text);
+KDEVPLATFORMLANGUAGE_EXPORT int matchPathFilter(const Path& toFilter, const QStringList& text);
 }
 
 #endif
diff --git a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.cpp b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.cpp
--- a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.cpp
+++ b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/abbreviations.cpp
@@ -158,13 +158,19 @@
   return matchedFragments == typedFragments.size();
 }
 
-PathFilterMatchQuality matchPathFilter(const Path &toFilter, const QStringList &text)
+int matchPathFilter(const Path &toFilter, const QStringList &text)
 {
+    enum PathFilterMatchQuality {
+      NoMatch = -1,
+      ExactMatch = 0,
+      StartMatch = 1,
+      OtherMatch = 2 // and anything higher than that
+    };
     const QVector<QString>& segments = toFilter.segments();
 
     if (text.count() > segments.count()) {
         // number of segments mismatches, thus item cannot match
-        return PathFilterMatchQuality::NoMatch;
+        return NoMatch;
     }
     {
         bool allMatched = true;
@@ -178,7 +184,7 @@
             }
         }
         if (allMatched) {
-            return PathFilterMatchQuality::ExactMatch;
+            return ExactMatch;
         }
     }
 
@@ -211,14 +217,14 @@
     }
 
     if (searchIndex != text.size()) {
-        return PathFilterMatchQuality::NoMatch;
+        return NoMatch;
     }
 
     // prefer matches whose last element starts with the filter
     if (pathIndex == segments.size() && lastMatchIndex == 0) {
-        return PathFilterMatchQuality::StartMatch;
+        return StartMatch;
     } else {
-        return PathFilterMatchQuality::OtherMatch;
+        return OtherMatch;
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/quickopenfilter.h b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/quickopenfilter.h
--- a/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/quickopenfilter.h
+++ b/kdevplatform/language/interfaces/quickopenfilter.h
@@ -194,31 +194,25 @@
             filterBase = m_items;
         }
 
-        // filterBase is correctly sorted, to keep it that way we add
-        // exact matches to this list in sorted way and then prepend the whole list in one go.
-        QVector<Item> exactMatches;
-        // similar for starting matches
-        QVector<Item> startMatches;
-        // all other matches are sorted by where they match, we prefer matches at the end
-        QVector<Item> otherMatches;
-        foreach( const Item& data, filterBase ) {
+        QVector<QPair<int, int>> matches;
+        for (int i = 0, c = filterBase.size(); i < c; ++i) {
+            const auto& data = filterBase.at(i);
             const auto matchQuality = matchPathFilter(static_cast<Parent*>(this)->itemPath(data), text);
-            switch (matchQuality) {
-            case PathFilterMatchQuality::NoMatch:
-                break;
-            case PathFilterMatchQuality::ExactMatch:
-                exactMatches << data;
-                break;
-            case PathFilterMatchQuality::StartMatch:
-                startMatches << data;
-                break;
-            case PathFilterMatchQuality::OtherMatch:
-                otherMatches << data;
-                break;
+            if (matchQuality == -1) {
+                continue;
             }
+            matches.push_back({matchQuality, i});
         }
-
-        m_filtered = exactMatches + startMatches + otherMatches;
+        std::sort(matches.begin(), matches.end(),
+                  [](const QPair<int, int>& lhs, const QPair<int, int>& rhs)
+                  {
+                    return lhs.first < rhs.first;
+                  });
+        m_filtered.resize(matches.size());
+        std::transform(matches.begin(), matches.end(), m_filtered.begin(),
+                       [&filterBase](const QPair<int, int>& match) {
+                            return filterBase.at(match.second);
+                       });
         m_oldFilterText = text;
     }