Natural order versus alphabetical
Given chapter1, chapter2 and chapter10, an alphabetical sort returns chapter1, chapter10, chapter2 — correct by the letter, useless in practice. Natural order reads the digits as a number and returns chapter1, chapter2, chapter10. It is the default here because almost every real list with numbers in it wants that behaviour: invoices, versions, files, episodes.
A worked example
Paste a column of prices where some rows are "N/A". Numeric sort puts the numbers in order from smallest to largest and gathers every N/A at the bottom, so you can see at a glance how many rows are missing a value — rather than finding them scattered among the zeroes.
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- Remove line breaksRejoin text that a PDF or email broke into short lines.
- Text compareDiff two versions and see what was added, removed and left alone.
Frequently asked questions
Is this list sorter free?
Yes, with no account and no limit on the number of lines.
Why is file10 before file9 in some sorters?
Because a plain alphabetical sort compares character by character, and "1" comes before "9". Natural order — the default here — reads runs of digits as numbers, so file9 comes before file10, which is what anyone naming files expects.
How are accented letters handled?
They sort next to their base letter, so évian falls between ether and zebra rather than after z. That is your browser applying proper language rules rather than comparing raw character codes.
What happens to lines that are not numbers in numeric sort?
They move to the bottom, in alphabetical order among themselves. They are not treated as zero, which would scatter them silently through your numbers.
Does it remove duplicates too?
No — sorting and de-duplicating are separate jobs, and doing both at once hides how many entries were dropped. Use the duplicate remover first, then send the result here.
Is my list uploaded?
No. Sorting happens in your browser, so the list never leaves your device.