Sort Lines Alphabetically or Numerically Online

Sorting a list of lines

Putting a list in order is a deceptively common chore: alphabetising names, ranking numbers, tidying imports, or arranging tags. Spreadsheets can do it but require pasting into a column first, and most code editors only offer a basic A → Z. This tool gives you five sort modes plus cleanup options, all on the raw lines you paste, with the result one click away.

Alphabetical sorting that respects language

The A → Z and Z → A modes use locale-aware comparison, so accented and non-English letters sort the way a human would expect rather than by raw byte value. This avoids the classic bug where "Zoë" or "Ångström" lands in a surprising place because its accented character has a high code point.

Numeric vs alphabetical: a crucial difference

Sorting numbers alphabetically gives the wrong answer: "100" comes before "9" because the comparison is character by character. Numeric mode parses each line as a number, so 2, 9, 10, and 100 sort in true order. Always pick numeric mode for prices, quantities, IDs, scores, or any column of figures.

The same list, three different sorts

It helps to see one input run through each mode. Take these five lines:

9
100
2
Ångström
apple

• A → Z (locale-aware) orders them 100, 2, 9, Ångström, apple. The numbers sort as text — "100" comes before "2" because 1 precedes 2 — while the accented Å files next to plain a rather than being banished to the end by its high code point.
• Numeric reads each line with parseFloat, giving Ångström, apple, 2, 9, 100. The two word lines parse as 0 and sink to the bottom, and the figures finally sort by value so 100 lands after 9 — the whole reason numeric mode exists.
• By length ranks by character count: 9, 2, 100, apple, Ångström (1, 1, 3, 5, 8 characters), with equal-length lines keeping their original relative order.

The takeaway: if your lines mix words and numbers, decide first whether you are sorting them as labels (A → Z) or as quantities (Numeric), because the two produce visibly different results on the very same data.

Sort by length and reverse

By length orders lines from shortest to longest, which is great for finding outliers or arranging items by size. Reverse simply flips the current order of the lines without otherwise sorting them — useful when your data is already in a meaningful sequence and you just need it inverted.

Clean before you sort

The Trim whitespace and Drop empty lines toggles handle the two things that most often spoil a sort. Trailing spaces make otherwise identical lines sort apart, and blank lines clump at the top of an alphabetical sort. Leaving both on produces the clean, predictable ordering you usually want; turn them off only when the whitespace or blank lines carry meaning.

A note on duplicates

Sorting groups duplicates together but does not remove them. If your goal is a clean, unique, ordered list, dedupe first and then sort — the two tools are designed to be used together.

Related text tools

• Remove Duplicate Lines — strip repeats before sorting.
• Reverse Text — flip line order without sorting by value.
• Extract Emails — pull addresses out, then sort them here.
• Word & Character Counter — measure the list you just sorted.