Overview
Introduction
Sorting a list by hand is tedious and error-prone once it grows past a handful of items, especially for numeric values that don't sort correctly as plain text.
This tool sorts list items using whichever mode fits your data: alphabetical, numeric, or by length.
What Is List Sorter?
A list transformer offering four sort modes: Alphabetical A-Z, Alphabetical Z-A, Numeric, and By Length.
It works with newline-separated, comma-separated, or custom-delimited lists, and validates numeric input before sorting in numeric mode.
How List Sorter Works
The list is split into items using the resolved separator, then sorted according to the chosen mode: alphabetical modes use locale-aware string comparison, numeric mode parses each item as a `Number` and compares numerically, and length mode compares string lengths.
In numeric mode, every item is validated as a real number before sorting begins; if any item fails to parse, the tool returns an error naming that item instead of producing a partially incorrect sort.
When To Use List Sorter
Use it to alphabetize a list of names, tags, or labels, or to sort a list of numbers into true numeric order rather than lexicographic (string) order.
By Length mode is handy for quickly finding the shortest or longest entries in a list, for example when auditing labels for a fixed-width UI.
Often used alongside List Reverser, List Randomizer and List Item Grouper.
Features
Advantages
- Four sort modes cover the most common list-ordering needs in one tool.
- Numeric mode avoids the classic "10 sorts before 2" bug of naive string sorting.
- Clear, specific error messages when numeric sort input isn't actually numeric.
Limitations
- Numeric mode requires every item to be a parseable number; mixed text/number lists must be cleaned up first or sorted alphabetically instead.
- Sorting is not case-sensitive-configurable, it always uses locale-aware comparison for alphabetical modes.
- Does not support custom or multi-key sort criteria beyond the four built-in modes.
Examples
Best Practices & Notes
Best Practices
- Use Numeric mode whenever every item is a number, to avoid incorrect lexicographic ordering like "10" sorting before "2".
- Trim stray whitespace from items before sorting numerically, since the tool trims each item internally but visible formatting may still look off in the source.
- Use By Length when you need to spot unusually short or long entries quickly.
Developer Notes
Alphabetical modes use `Array.prototype.sort()` with `String.prototype.localeCompare()` as the comparator (reversed for Z-A); numeric mode maps each trimmed item through `Number()` and validates with `Number.isNaN()` before comparing values directly; length mode compares `.length` on the raw item strings.
List Sorter Use Cases
- Alphabetizing a list of names or tags for a UI dropdown
- Sorting a list of numeric IDs or scores into true ascending order
- Ordering a list by entry length to spot outliers
Common Mistakes
- Choosing Numeric mode on a list that includes non-numeric labels, which triggers a validation error by design.
- Expecting Alphabetical sort to also reorder numbers numerically; text sort treats "10" as coming before "2".
- Assuming By Length sorts by numeric value when items look like numbers; it always compares character count.
Tips
- Run List Item Counter Remover first if your items already have leading numbers that would interfere with a clean alphabetical sort.
- Follow sorting with List Reverser if you realize you wanted the opposite direction, rather than re-sorting from scratch.