Text Sorter

How two lines are compared

Sort splits on \n or \r\n, optionally trims each line, then sorts a copy. With Natural-number sorting off, the comparison is the ordinary < and > of JavaScript strings. If Case insensitive is checked, both sides are lowercased first. The original spelling is what gets printed. Item1 stays Item1 even though it was compared as item1. This order is code-unit order, not a dictionary. "10" is before "2" because the character 1 is before the character 2. é is after e, not beside it.

With Natural-number sorting on, the comparison is localeCompare for the English locale, with numeric turned on. Case insensitive uses sensitivity base. Case sensitive uses sensitivity variant. Numeric comparison is why item2 precedes item10, and why the bare lines 2 and 10 sort as two then ten. Lines that the numeric compare treats as equal keep their incoming order, because the sort is stable. item02 and item2 compare equal in this mode, so the one that appeared first stays first under A → Z. é and e also compare equal under base sensitivity, which is the case-insensitive natural mode. They do not compare equal in the default code-unit sort.

Direction and the three checkboxes

A → Z and Z → A are a button pair. A → Z starts pressed. Z → A sorts with the current comparison and then reverses the whole array. A reversal also flips ties. Two lines that compared equal, and therefore kept their original order under A → Z, come out in the opposite order under Z → A. The spelling of each line is still unchanged.

Case insensitive and Trim whitespace start checked. Natural-number sorting starts unchecked and sits on its own row. Trim removes the spaces at the two ends of a line and does not remove a blank line. A line that was only spaces becomes an empty line and then sorts with the other empty lines. None of these controls rerun the sort. Load sample only fills the box. Reset clears the box and the pane. Sort is the click that writes Sorted output. There is no status sentence for a successful sort.

When a sorted list is the list you wanted

Use this page when the lines are already one item each and the destination wants alphabetical order or numeric order. It does not remove duplicates. Repeated lines stay, next to each other after the sort if they compared equal. The text deduplicator drops repeated lines and can keep the first spelling. The pasted-list guide walks through that choice, and through when sorting is the wrong move because the original order mattered.

Wrapped lines are not joined here. Line operations can join breaks before you paste the result back. A shuffled order is a different button: the list shuffler reorders with a random draw and does not sort. This page has no random mode. A header row and a quoted CSV record are not special. Each physical line is one sort key, so a record that contains a line break is split.

Blanks, ties, and numbered labels

An empty line sorts before any line that still has a character, under A → Z, because the empty string is smaller. Under Z → A that empty line goes to the end, because the finished list is reversed. Trim whitespace does not delete it. There is no separate control that drops blanks. An empty box is one empty piece, and the joined result is empty.

Numbered labels need the natural checkbox. Left off, item10, item2, and Item1 become Item1, item10, item2. Turned on, they become Item1, item2, item10. The same switch puts 2 before 10 and a2 before a10. It does not rewrite item02 into item2. Those two compare equal, so A → Z keeps whichever came first in the paste, and Z → A puts the later one first. Accented letters follow the same split: the default sort uses code units, and the natural case-insensitive sort uses English base sensitivity, which can treat é and e as equal. There is no locale menu. Copy output copies the pane. Download output saves text-sorter.txt.

Rules and limitations

A → Z, Case insensitive, and Trim whitespace start on. Natural-number sorting starts off and uses English localeCompare with numeric comparison. Z → A reverses the sorted lines, ties included. Spelling is kept. Duplicates and blank lines are kept.

The default comparison is code-unit order on the optionally lowercased line. Trim does not delete blank lines. Sort does not error. Download output saves text-sorter.txt. The controls do not sort by themselves.

Common problems

If item10 is above item2, Natural-number sorting was off. Check it and press Sort. Changing the box without sorting leaves the previous lines.

If two equal lines swapped when you chose Z → A, the reverse flipped a tie. A → Z had kept the earlier line first. Accented letters that look grouped only do that in the natural case-insensitive compare.

Frequently asked questions

About this tool

Maintained by Toolbench. For large or deeply nested files, split the input into smaller batches and verify representative results before using them in an import or application. Report reproducible problems through Contact.