Alphabetize List & Sort Lines
This free tool alphabetizes a list, sorts lines and removes duplicate lines as you type. It sorts numbers, dates, versions, file sizes and IP addresses by value, files names by last name, keeps accents in place, and can drop repeated lines while keeping your original order, then show exactly what it removed.
What does this list sorter do?
It puts any list in order as you type, and it looks at what the list is before it sorts it.
- Auto sorting by value. When most lines are numbers, dates, times, version numbers, file sizes or IP addresses, it sorts them by what they mean, and says so above the result.
- Real alphabetical order. Capital letters do not jump ahead, accented letters sit with their plain letter, numbers inside words go in number order, and you can pick the alphabet of your language.
- Last names. Maria Silva, Silva, Maria, John Smith Jr. and Ludwig van Beethoven are all filed correctly.
- Titles. Ignore The, A and An, and leading quotes, like a library catalog.
- Any shape of list. Numbered lists are numbered again, bullets are kept, a single line of comma-separated items is sorted in place, paragraphs can be sorted as blocks, and CSV rows can be sorted by any column with the header kept on top.
- Remove duplicate lines. With or without sorting, keeping the first or the last copy, and listing what was removed.
- Extras under More options. Reverse, shuffle, remove empty lines, add A, B, C headings, and number the result.
What does ordinary sorting get wrong?
Most sorters compare characters one at a time. That is fine for single words and wrong for almost everything else:
| Your list | Character order | This tool |
|---|---|---|
| item 2, item 10 | item 10, item 2 | item 2, item 10 |
| Jan 3 2024, Feb 1 2024 | Feb 1 2024, Jan 3 2024 | Jan 3 2024, Feb 1 2024 |
| 512 KB, 10 MB | 10 MB, 512 KB | 512 KB, 10 MB |
| 1.2.10, 1.2.9 | 1.2.10, 1.2.9 | 1.2.9, 1.2.10 |
| Émile, Zoe | Zoe, Émile | Émile, Zoe |
| The Beatles, Coldplay | Coldplay, The Beatles | with Ignore The: The Beatles, Coldplay |
How do you remove duplicate lines?
Tick Remove duplicates, then Keep the original order: the repeated lines go and every other line stays where it was. Most removers only offer exact matches, so Apple and apple survive as two lines. Here a line counts as a copy even with different capitals or extra spaces, unless you untick those options.
| Option | What it decides |
|---|---|
| Keep first / Keep last | Which copy survives. Keep last is handy when newer entries are at the bottom |
| Ignore case | Apple and APPLE count as the same line |
| Ignore extra spaces | a b and a b count as the same line |
| See them | Lists each line that had copies and how many were removed |
Leave Keep the original order unticked to remove duplicates and sort in one step.
How do you alphabetize a list?
- Paste the list, one item per line, or open a .txt or .csv file.
- Keep Auto, or choose Plain text, Last name, Length or Column.
- Pick the direction; More options holds the rest, from Ignore case to Number the lines.
- Copy or download the sorted list, or press Use as input to keep working on it.
What this sorter does not do
- It does not open Excel files. Save the sheet as CSV, or paste the cells.
- It cannot guess every date. For dates like 03/05/2024 you choose month first or day first, unless a day over 12 settles it.
- It does not understand citation styles. A bibliography is sorted entry by entry as text, ignoring quotes and, if you ask, articles; check author rules like et al. yourself.
- It sorts by one key at a time, not by one column and then another.
- It only removes copies that match once case and spaces are ignored. Lines with a typo or different punctuation are kept, because guessing which near match you meant would delete lines you wanted.
Everything runs in your browser, so the list stays on your device. To clean up the list before sorting, the case converter fixes capitals and the word counter counts the result.
Frequently asked questions
How do I alphabetize a list?
Paste the list with one item per line and it appears in alphabetical order on the right, ready to copy or download. Capital letters do not change the order unless you untick Ignore case, and accented letters sit next to their plain letter. Choose Z to A for the reverse order.
How do I sort a list by last name?
Choose Last name. It reads names written as Maria Silva or Silva, Maria, skips suffixes such as Jr. and III, and files names like Ludwig van Beethoven under Beethoven, the way most English indexes do. The names themselves stay exactly as you typed them.
Why does 10 come before 2 in other sorters?
Plain alphabetical order compares characters one by one, and the character 1 comes before 2, so 10 lands before 2. This tool reads numbers inside text as whole numbers, so item 2 comes before item 10. Untick Numbers in order to get the strict character order instead.
Can it sort dates in chronological order?
Yes. When most lines are dates, such as 2024-03-05, Mar 5, 2024 or 5 March 2024, the list is sorted by the actual date, oldest or newest first. For dates like 03/05/2024 you choose whether the month or the day comes first; if any date has a day over 12, it decides by itself.
Which kinds of values does it recognize?
Numbers with currency signs, thousands separators, percentages and negatives, dates, times like 9:05 PM, version numbers like 1.2.10 and 2.0.0-beta, file sizes like 512 KB and 2 GB, and IP addresses. It needs at least 80 percent of the lines to share a type; lines that cannot be read go to the end.
How do I ignore The and A when alphabetizing titles?
Open More options and tick Ignore The, A, An. Titles such as The Beatles or A Tribe Called Quest are then sorted by their next word, the way libraries, record shops and most style guides file titles. Leading quotation marks and brackets are always ignored, so a quoted title is filed by its first letter.
Can I sort a numbered list?
Yes. A list where every line starts with a number like 1. or 1) is sorted by its text and then numbered again from 1, so the numbers stay in sequence. Bullet lists that start with a dash or a dot keep their bullets. Tick Number the lines to add numbers to a plain list.
How do I sort a CSV file by a column?
Choose Column, paste the rows or open the .csv file, and pick the column. The separator, comma, tab, semicolon or pipe, is detected, quoted values with commas inside are respected, and First line is a header keeps the header on top. Numbers and dates in the column are sorted by value.
How do I remove duplicate lines without sorting?
Tick Remove duplicates, then Keep the original order. Repeated lines are dropped and every other line stays exactly where it was. Choose Keep first or Keep last to decide which copy survives, leave Ignore case and Ignore extra spaces on to catch near copies, and press See them to list every line that had copies.
Does it work with other languages?
Yes. Pick the alphabet you want: in Swedish Ä and Ö come after Z, while in German Ä sits with A, and each language has its own rules like these. The list never leaves your browser, and a list of 100,000 lines sorts in well under a second.
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This tool is free and still growing. Tell us what works, what you would change, and what is missing. Your feedback is what decides what we build next.
Built and tested by the ÆON Toolhub team. Last updated: October 5, 2026. How we test our tools