Sort a list

Sort a list line by line in your browser, alphabetically or numerically, in ascending or descending order. Sorting keeps repeated values: it does not remove duplicates.

Alphabetical sorting uses a language-aware comparison that reads numbers inside text, so “item 2” comes before “item 10”. Capitals and accents do not break ties: “Élise” and “elise” rank equally. Numeric sorting compares the values read as numbers. Choose the mode that matches your data and check lines that mix text and figures. Empty lines are ignored. The result only reorders lines; it does not fix typos. To pick the right mode, start from the question the list should answer. For names, titles or references, alphabetical order makes things easy to find. For measurements or quantities, numeric mode stops digits being treated as mere characters. A reference such as “batch 12” is not a quantity, though: keep that kind of identifier in alphabetical mode and check the order you get. Punctuation and spaces can affect the ranking. If the list mixes languages, try a few representative values first. Sorting does not replace prior clean-up: “Paris”, “paris” and “Paris” preceded by a space remain separate entries. Likewise, a sorted list is not necessarily a list of unique values. If you are preparing an export, first decide whether duplicates mean something, then use the duplicate remover separately if needed. To compare two results, keep the same sorting method. Finally, before copying the result, check the first and last items and a few special cases: negative values, decimals, alphanumeric identifiers or accented names. These quick checks stop an unexpected order from being mistaken for a data error.