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Key Features
Instant Calculation
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Mobile Friendly
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100% Free
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Paste a list with one item per line and get it back sorted alphabetically — ascending (A-Z) or descending (Z-A) — without needing to open a spreadsheet or text editor with sort functionality just to organize a short list. It's a quick fix for exactly the kind of one-off list-ordering task that feels like overkill to open a full spreadsheet application for: a guest list, a set of tags, a reference list for a document, or a batch of file names copied from a folder listing.
How it works
The pasted text is split into individual lines, each line is compared against the others using standard alphabetical (lexicographic) ordering, and the lines are rearranged in the chosen direction — ascending from A to Z, or descending from Z to A — then rejoined with one item per line, exactly as they were entered.
- Enter text (one item per line).
- Enter order.
- Enter case sensitive sort.
- Enter remove empty lines.
- Enter remove duplicate lines.
- Click Calculate to see your results.
Examples
Alphabetizing a short list ascending
Pasting "banana", "apple", "cherry" (one per line) with ascending order returns "apple", "banana", "cherry".
Sorting descending
Pasting the same three fruits with descending order instead returns "cherry", "banana", "apple" — the reverse of the ascending result.
Sorting a mixed-case list
Pasting "Zebra", "apple", "Mango" ascending typically groups by standard alphabetical comparison; if your list mixes capitalization and exact ordering matters, check the result against your expectations, since case can affect comparison order.
Who should use it
- Alphabetizing a reading list, contact list, or reference list.
- Preparing a sorted list for a report or document.
- Ordering tags, keywords, or file names copied from elsewhere.
Industry applications
- General office/admin productivity
- Content and documentation editing
Advantages
- Instant, no spreadsheet needed.
- Ascending or descending order in one click.
- Works on lists of any reasonable length.
Limitations
- Alphabetical only — not a true numeric sort for number-only lists.
- Doesn't deduplicate — pair with a separate tool for that.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Expecting numeric strings to sort numerically — alphabetical sort treats "10" as coming before "2" since it compares character by character rather than by numeric value.
- Forgetting that mixed-case lists may not sort the way you visually expect.
- Not removing duplicates first when a clean, deduplicated sorted list is the actual goal.
Best practices
- Combine with a Remove Duplicate Lines tool if your list also needs deduplication before or after sorting.
- Trim stray leading/trailing spaces from each line first for the most predictable ordering.
- Use a spreadsheet's numeric sort instead if your list is purely numbers and true numeric order matters.
Tips
- Pair with a Remove Duplicate Lines tool to both dedupe and sort a list in two quick steps.