About the Alphabetical Order
Alphabetising by hand goes wrong the moment capitals, accents and numbers appear in the same list. This tool uses the browser Intl collator set to English rules, so apple and Apple land next to each other rather than in two separate blocks, and accented letters file where a reader expects them: Ångström sits with the A words, not after Z. Numbers inside an item are compared as numbers, which is why item 2 comes before item 10 instead of after it.
The separator dropdown decides what counts as one item. Line mode suits a column pasted out of a spreadsheet, comma mode suits a tag list, and space mode treats every run of whitespace as a break. Whatever you pick is used again to rebuild the output, so a comma list stays a comma list.
Two switches change the sort key rather than the text. Ticking the capitals option makes the comparison strict, which pushes every uppercase item ahead of its lowercase twin. Ticking the article option sorts a film or book called The Iron Giant under I while still printing the full title, the way a library catalogue does. Drop repeated items compares with the same rules, so a duplicate that only differs in case is still caught. For sorting whole rows of code or config where trailing spaces matter, Sort Text Lines gives you raw line sorting instead.
How to use
- Paste or type the list into the left pane.
- Choose how the items are separated, then pick A to Z or Z to A.
- Tick Drop repeated items if the list should end up unique.
- Copy the ordered list or download it as a text file.
Common questions
- How are numbers inside items ordered?
- Digits are compared numerically, so Chapter 2 comes before Chapter 10. A plain string sort would put Chapter 10 first.
- Does it keep blank lines?
- No. Empty items are dropped before sorting, so the output has no gaps in it.
- Will accented words sort correctly?
- Yes. The English collator files them with their unaccented base letter, so resume and resumé stay together.
- Can I alphabetise a comma separated tag list?
- Change the separator dropdown to Commas. The result is rejoined with commas so you can paste it straight back.