Alphabetize List

Sort and alphabetize any list online. Free online list sorter - sort A-Z or Z-A, ascending or descending instantly.

🔒 Your text stays in your browser - nothing is sent to our servers
Input
0Characters
0No spaces
0Words
0Sentences
0Lines
< 1 minRead time
Result
How to Use

Three steps to get started

1

Paste your list

Paste any multi-line list - one item per line.

2

Choose sort order

Select ascending (A→Z), descending (Z→A), or case-sensitive sort.

3

Copy or download

Click Copy for the sorted list, or download as a .txt file.

About This Tool

Sort any list alphabetically in one click

To alphabetize a list is to reorder its entries according to the sequence of the alphabet, comparing entries character by character from the left and moving to the next character only when the current pair is equal. This tool applies that ordering to every line of pasted text - one item per line - and can run it forwards (A→Z), backwards (Z→A), or in a case-sensitive mode where capitals and lowercase letters are treated as distinct.

Where an alphabetized list earns its keep:

  • Reference lists and bibliographies, where APA, MLA, and Chicago all require alphabetical order by author surname
  • Keyword and query lists in SEO research, where sorting groups related head terms together and makes duplicates visible
  • Dropdown, select, and autocomplete option lists in UI code
  • Glossaries, indexes, and terminology sheets for documentation
  • Environment variables in a .env file, dependency lists, or import blocks - many linters (ESLint's sort-imports, isort for Python) enforce exactly this
  • Package manifests and config keys, where a stable order makes code-review diffs far smaller

Why does my sorted list look wrong?

Almost every surprise comes from one of three causes. The first is lexicographic versus numeric order: because comparison happens one character at a time, Item 10 sorts before Item 9, and 100 sorts before 20. Zero-pad your numbers (009, 010) if numeric order matters. The second is case sensitivity: in raw code-point order every uppercase letter (U+0041–U+005A) precedes every lowercase one (U+0061–U+007A), so a case-sensitive sort puts Zebra ahead of apple. The third is leading whitespace: a stray space sorts before every letter and silently pushes a line to the top, so trim your list first.

This sorter uses JavaScript's localeCompare, which follows the Unicode Collation Algorithm rather than raw code-point order. That is what makes résumé file next to resume instead of after z, and it handles Cyrillic, Greek, and accented Latin text sensibly. It is not identical to a Unix sort run under LC_ALL=C, which uses byte order - if you are reproducing a shell pipeline exactly, expect small differences around accents and punctuation.

Sorting is performed locally in this page, so a list of client names, internal SKUs, or unreleased feature flags never leaves your device, and there is no cap on how many lines you can paste.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

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