Numbers in natural order
- Input
item 10 item 2 item 1
- Expected result
item 1 item 2 item 10
Press Sort. Natural number order is enabled: 2 comes before 10.
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Sort and remove repeats
- Input
Bea ANA Ana Carlos
- Expected result
ANA Bea Carlos
Press Sort. Case is ignored and the first version of Ana is kept.
Shortest to longest
- Input
banana fig kiwi
- Expected result
fig kiwi banana
Press Sort. Length counts characters, not visual width.
With this tool you can sort any list of words, names, phrases or items instantly. Paste your list with one item per line, choose how to sort it and press the button. The result appears in the same box, ready to copy.
Sorting is done the way people expect, not by raw character codes: “Álvarez” goes next to “Alonso”, not after “Zúñiga”, upper and lower case are treated alike, and if the list has numbers (“item 2”, “item 10”) you can turn on natural order so that 2 comes before 10.
Four ways to sort
| Mode | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| A → Z | Ascending alphabetical order | Lists of names, indexes, glossaries |
| Z → A | Descending alphabetical order | See the end of the alphabet first, reverse an earlier order |
| By length | From the shortest line to the longest | Menus, labels and lists where visual length matters |
| Random | Shuffles the lines | Draws, speaking turns, question order |
Why a plain sort often gets it wrong
A naive program sorts by character codes, and accents break it: “Éric” would end up after “Zoe”, because É has a higher code than Z. This tool compares text with the alphabetical rules of the language, so accented letters sit next to their plain versions.
The “Ignore case when sorting” box avoids the other classic problem: “zebra” and “Zebra” ending up far apart because of the case of the first letter. And the remove duplicates and remove empty lines boxes tidy the list in the same pass, with no extra tools.
How to use it
- 1Paste the list, one item per line: names, tasks, keywords, references.
- 2Choose the criterion (A→Z, Z→A, length or random) and tick the cleaning options you want to apply at the same time.
- 3Press “Sort” and copy the result. You can sort again with another criterion without pasting the list again.
Lists that are sorted often
- Lists of people for minutes, attendance sheets or roll calls, where alphabetical order is expected.
- Keywords and tags before loading them into an SEO tool or a content system.
- Bibliographies and references that must be handed in in alphabetical order.
- Draws and turns: the random mode picks an order without slips of paper or arguments.
Input and output examples
| Input | Mode | Result |
|---|---|---|
| pear, Apple, banana, apple | A → Z, ignore case | Apple, apple, banana, pear |
| item 10, item 2, item 1 | A → Z + natural order | item 1, item 2, item 10 |
| kiwi, fig, banana | By length | fig, kiwi, banana |
| Ana, Bea, Ana | A → Z + remove duplicates | Ana, Bea |
Limitations to know about
Each line is one item, so a list separated by commas needs its commas turned into line breaks first (use Find and Replace with a regular expression). “By length” counts characters, including spaces. Undo last change restores one step during this visit, until you edit the result. Keep the original for a complete history. Sorting follows the alphabetical rules of English; for languages with letters that sort in special places, such as ñ in Spanish or å in Swedish, use the page for that language.
Frequently asked questions
How do I sort a list alphabetically online?
Paste your list in the box, one item per line. Select A → Z and press Sort. All lines are put in alphabetical order at once, with accented letters in their right place.
Which line is kept if I remove duplicates while sorting?
The first one in the original list is kept, and then the list is sorted. If “JOHN SMITH” comes before “John Smith” and “Ignore case” is on, the capitalised version survives. To keep the other one, unify the case first.
Are capitals and accents taken into account?
With “Ignore case” on (the default), “avila”, “Avila” and “Ávila” count as equivalent when sorting. If you turn it off, the order is still alphabetical, and case only decides between lines that are otherwise equal.
Can I sort phrases with several words, not only single words?
Yes. Each line is treated as one item, however many words it has. You can sort full sentences, titles, names with surnames or any text, as long as every item is on its own line.
How does the “By length” order work?
Items are sorted from shortest to longest by the number of characters in each line. It helps to spot the most concise entries or to find very long ones that may need shortening.
What happens if two items are identical except for the case?
With “Ignore case” on, “Apple” and “apple” are duplicates and one is removed when “Remove duplicates” is on too. With it off, they are different items and both are kept.
Can I undo a sort?
Undo last change restores one step during this visit, until you edit the result. Keep the original for a complete history.
Why does “item 10” come before “item 2”?
Because alphabetical order compares character by character, and “10” starts with “1”. Tick “Natural number order” and the digits are compared as whole numbers: item 1, item 2, item 10.
Does it work with lists in other languages?
It sorts any text, always with the rules of the page language. For most lists in Spanish, Catalan, French or German the result is what you expect. For languages with their own letters at special places in the alphabet, results can differ from a dictionary.