gizmobench

Alphabetizer

Paste a list, one item per line, and get it back in order beside the list you pasted, with both panes counting their lines. Two settings decide the answer and both sit on the first screen: the language, because sorting runs through your browser's collator for the language you pick and languages genuinely disagree about where an accented letter belongs, and natural number order, which puts item2 before item10 instead of comparing the digits one at a time. A plain sort, the kind a spreadsheet or a one line script does by default, compares raw character codes instead: it files every capital letter before every small one and pushes every accented word to the end of the list. Blank lines are counted and dropped, duplicates are counted as they are removed, and lines that sort equal keep the order you pasted them in.

Sorted0 lines

Paste a list on the left to see it in order.

No list yet.

Sorted in your languageitem2 before item10Your list stays in this browserNo account, no length limit
Order
Numbers
Lines
  • item2 and item10natural, numbers compared as numbers
    item2, item10
  • Ångström, Zürich, appleEnglish collation
    Ångström, apple, Zürich
  • red, blue, reddedupe on, 1 removed
    blue, red

Nothing to sort yet. Paste a list on the left, one item per line.

One line is one item, so an entry written "Smith, John" stays a single item and only line breaks split the list. Blank lines are counted and dropped either way. Swap back puts the sorted list into the box on the left so you can sort it again under different settings, and it turns into Undo swap so the list you pasted is never lost.

The language setting decides the answer. Accented and non-English letters are ordered by your browser's collator for the language you pick, and languages genuinely disagree: English files Ångström with the A words, Swedish files Å after Z as the last letter of its alphabet, and both are right for their readers. Set the language before you read the list. Sorting by raw character codes instead, which is what a plain sort in a spreadsheet or a script does, puts every capital letter before every small one and pushes every accented word to the end.
Accuracy. Sorting uses your browser's collator for the language you choose, so accented and non-English letters land where that language puts them, and languages genuinely disagree. Numbers inside lines are compared as numbers when natural order is on, and lines that sort equal keep the order you pasted them in.

Common questions

How do I alphabetise a list?
Paste it into the box on the left, one item per line, and the sorted list appears on the right as you type. Nothing needs to be pressed and nothing needs to be uploaded. Set Order to A to Z or Z to A, set Language to the language the list is written in, and choose what to do about spacing and repeats with the Lines control: As pasted keeps every line exactly as it is, Trim drops the space at each end of a line, Dedupe keeps the first copy of a repeated line, and Both does the two together. Copy writes the whole sorted list to your clipboard. Swap back puts the sorted list into the box on the left, so you can sort the result again under different settings, and turns into Undo swap so the list you pasted is never lost.
Why does item10 come before item2 on other sorters?
Because they compare the text one character at a time, and the character 1 comes before the character 2, so item10 wins before the 0 is ever read. That is correct for text and wrong for anything numbered. With Numbers set to Natural, this page compares a run of digits as the number it spells, so item2 sorts before item10 and file 9 sorts before file 100. Set Numbers to Plain text to get the character by character answer back when you want it, for instance when your lines are part numbers or version strings you want grouped by their leading digits. One consequence worth knowing: under natural order item02 and item2 are the same number, so the collator calls them equal, and equal lines keep the order you pasted them in rather than being reordered or merged.
How are accented and non-English letters ordered, and why does the language matter?
They are ordered by your browser's collator for the language in the Language control, which is why that control is on the first screen and not hidden in a settings panel. It changes the answer. In English, Ångström is filed with the A words: on this page it sorts before apple, because once Å and a count as the same letter the second letters decide, and n comes before p. In Swedish, Å is its own letter at the very end of the alphabet, so the same list puts Ångström last, after Zürich. Turkish sorts dotless ı before i, so ısparta comes before istanbul there and last of the three in English. None of these is a mistake: they are different alphabets, and the only way to get the right one is to say which language the list is in. If your browser has no sorting rules for a language you pick, the page says so and leaves your list alone instead of quietly sorting it as English.
What happens to duplicates and blank lines?
Blank lines, and lines holding nothing but spaces or tabs, are always counted and dropped: the left pane says how many blanks it found and the sorted list does not include them. A single line break at the very end of the text is treated as the end of the last line rather than as an extra blank one. Duplicates are only removed when the Lines control is set to Dedupe or Both, and then the first copy is kept and the sorted pane says how many lines were removed, so the count never changes silently. The match is exact text, so Apple and apple are two different lines and both survive, and with Trim on the trimming happens first, which means two lines that differ only in the spaces around them collapse into one.
Is my list uploaded anywhere?
No. The sorting runs in your browser, there is no server in this and nothing you paste is sent or logged anywhere. Your list and your settings are remembered in this browser alone so they are still here when you come back, and the Start over button above the tool forgets them. If storage is blocked, in a private window for instance, the tool still sorts and simply does not remember.
How long a list can I paste in?
No limit is imposed. Everything happens in your browser with no account and no upload, so the practical ceiling is your device's memory rather than a plan: a list of twenty thousand lines is sorted whole, with nothing truncated and no line dropped. The panes wrap and scroll rather than stretching the page, and Copy writes out the entire sorted list, not the part you can see.
Can I sort Z to A, and what happens to lines that tie?
Set Order to Z to A. It reverses the comparison rather than reversing the finished list, which matters for ties: lines the collator calls equal, such as item02 and item2 under natural order, or café written with a combining accent and café written with the precomposed letter, keep the order you pasted them in in both directions. Nothing is reordered that you did not ask to be reordered.

Sorting uses your browser's collator for the language you choose, so accented and non-English letters land where that language puts them, and languages genuinely disagree. Numbers inside lines are compared as numbers when natural order is on, and lines that sort equal keep the order you pasted them in.