Sort lines
Text & WritingNo. 64 / 84
Sort lines A to Z or Z to A, numerically or ignoring case, with duplicate removal and blank-line cleanup in one live list.
for lists that arrived in the order the universe felt like that day.
work surface
Math, not advice — results are indicative.Read the disclaimer.
most-used utilities
Guest list
Paste the names from a spreadsheet, drop empty rows and duplicates, then sort A to Z before printing the seating plan.
Keyword cleanup
A research export usually repeats the same phrase in three capitalizations. Ignore case, remove duplicates, and you have a clean list to work from.
Inventory count
Turn a column of SKUs into numeric order so the warehouse walk follows the shelf numbers instead of the order they were typed.
pro tips
Deduplication happens before sorting, so the first copy in the list you pasted is the one that survives. If a particular version should win, move it up before you switch the option on.
Numeric mode uses the first number it finds, so it handles lines like 12 apples or invoice 1042, but not ranges or dates with several numbers in them.
Case-insensitive sorting still preserves the original capitalization. It changes the order, not the spelling of your list.
what it does
Paste a list and every line becomes an item to sort. Choose ascending or descending and the list reorders as you type: no import, no spreadsheet and no waiting for a file to upload.
The extra switches handle the mess real lists arrive in. Numeric sorting reads the first number on each line, so item 2 lands before item 10 instead of after it. Case-insensitive sorting ignores capitals, deduplicate keeps the first copy of each line, and blank lines can be dropped before anything else happens.
It is built for guest lists, keyword dumps, inventory counts, reading lists and the column you copied out of a spreadsheet at the end of a long day. Reverse at the end is there for the times when you want the sorted result flipped without changing the rules that produced it.
The output is a separate box, so the original text stays exactly as you pasted it. Nothing is saved and nothing is uploaded, and a list of a few thousand lines still sorts faster than you can reach for the copy button.
quick answers
How does numeric sorting work?
It finds the first number in each line and compares those values, so item 9 comes before item 10. Lines without a number go to the end, sorted alphabetically.
Does deduplicate ignore capitalization?
It follows the case-insensitive switch. With it on, Apple and apple count as the same line and the first one is kept; with it off, they stay separate.
Is the original list changed?
No. The original stays in the input box and the sorted version appears in a second box, ready to copy. Reload the page and both are gone.