Text Sorter
Sort a list of lines A→Z, Z→A, by number, by length, in reverse, or shuffled — with natural ordering so item2 comes before item10.
How it works
Alphabetical sorting uses your browser's locale-aware comparison with natural number handling turned on. That is why item2 lands before item10 — a plain character-by-character sort would put item10 first because “1” precedes “2”.
Blank lines are dropped before sorting, since a list of values rarely wants them back in an arbitrary position. Shuffle uses a Fisher–Yates shuffle, which gives every ordering an equal chance rather than the subtle bias a naive sort-by-random produces.
The formula
Alphabetical
locale comparison with numeric: true
By length
compare character counts, shortest or longest first
Shuffle
Fisher–Yates: for i from n−1 down to 1, swap with a random earlier index
Worked examples
| Scenario | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| item10, item2, item1 | A → Z with natural ordering | item1, item2, item10 |
| Banana, apple | A → Z, case insensitive | apple, Banana |
| A list of names | Shuffle | A fair random order |
When you'd use it
- Alphabetising a glossary, index or reference list
- Ordering version numbers or SKUs correctly
- Randomising a list for a draw or a test order
- Finding the longest or shortest entries in a list
Common questions
Why does item2 come before item10?
Because sorting is natural rather than character-by-character: embedded numbers are compared as numbers. A plain string sort would give item1, item10, item2, which is almost never what you want.
How does case sensitivity change the result?
With it off, “apple” and “Apple” sort together as the same word. With it on, capital letters sort before lowercase ones, so every capitalised entry is grouped ahead of the rest.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole tool runs in your browser, so what you paste never leaves your device. That matters when the text is a draft, a transcript or anything covered by an NDA.