Text Sorter

Introduction:

Text lists become more useful when order, spacing, separators, and duplicate handling are explicit. A copied file list, tag list, title list, or column of codes can look tidy at first and still sort poorly when it contains numbers, accents, blank rows, uneven whitespace, or repeated values.

Human-friendly ordering often differs from plain character ordering. In a character-by-character comparison, File10 can appear before File2. Natural sorting treats embedded digit runs as numbers, so filenames, issue labels, page names, and version-like text line up closer to how readers expect them to appear.

The sorter is best for one-item-per-line lists and simple token streams. TXT and CSV files are treated as plain text sources, so quoted CSV records, multi-column table logic, and escaped separators should be cleaned in a spreadsheet or data tool before sorting here.

How to Use This Tool:

1. Paste text, drop a small TXT or CSV file, or browse for a plain text source.
2. Choose the Input separator. Use new lines for ordinary lists, and choose comma, semicolon, space, or tab only when the source really is token-based.
3. Pick a Sort mode: alphabetical, natural, character length, reverse, or shuffle.
4. Set Case sensitive and Locale when the placement of uppercase, lowercase, accented, or language-specific characters matters.
5. Use cleanup controls for blank lines, trimming, duplicate removal, leading list numbers, internal whitespace, leading articles, prefixes, suffixes, and line numbers.
6. Add include, exclude, or regex filtering only after the basic split and cleanup settings match the source.
7. Review Sorted Output, then copy or download the final text. Use the stats, character counts, and JSON views when counts or audit detail matter.

For a conservative first pass, choose new-line input, natural A-Z ordering, trim each line, ignore blank lines, and leave duplicate removal off until you can see which repeated items are intentional.

Interpreting Results:

Sorted Output is the final paste-ready text. It includes line numbers, prefixes, suffixes, and the selected output separator. The stats and JSON views describe processed items and settings, so they are useful for review but may not be byte-for-byte identical to the final decorated text.

• Total items starts from the split source before later cleanup removes blanks or duplicates.
• Unique is case-aware when case sensitivity is enabled and case-folded when it is disabled.
• Character Counts measure the processed item list before numbering, prefixes, suffixes, and final joining.
• Reverse flips the current processed sequence; it is not the same thing as alphabetical Z-A unless the source was already ordered A-Z.
• Shuffle can be repeated only when the same input, settings, and seed are used.

If an invalid regex warning appears, the regex filter is skipped until the pattern is fixed. Other cleanup and sorting choices still run, so do not treat the output as regex-filtered while that warning is visible.

Technical Details:

Sorting is governed by collation: the comparison rule used to decide which string comes first. Alphabetical modes use locale-aware string comparison. Natural modes enable numeric comparison so digit runs are compared as values. A locale such as en-US, fr, or de can change accent and language-specific ordering; an unusable locale falls back to the browser default.

Transformation Core:

1. Split the source text by the selected input separator.
2. Optionally trim item edges, remove leading list numbers, collapse internal whitespace, and discard blank items.
3. Apply plain include and exclude filters, then apply the regex filter when the pattern is valid.
4. Order the cleaned items using the selected mode: alphabetical, natural, length, reverse, or shuffle.
5. Remove duplicates when requested, using the active case-sensitivity rule.
6. Add optional line numbers, prefixes, and suffixes, then join the result with the selected output separator and newline style.

Formula Core:

The reported average item length uses the processed item list before line numbering, prefixes, suffixes, and final joining:

The displayed value is rounded to one decimal place. If the processed item count is zero, the average is reported as zero.

Worked Examples:

Natural filename order:

Paste File10, File2, and File1 on separate lines, then choose Natural A-Z. The output becomes File1, File2, File10, which is the expected order for labels with embedded numbers.

Repeatable shuffled review list:

Paste four reviewer names, choose Shuffle, and enter draft-1 as the seed. The same input and seed recreate the same shuffled order, which is useful when a randomized list needs to be reviewed later.

Single-column CSV cleanup:

Paste alpha, beta, alpha, gamma, set input and output separators to comma, enable trimming, and then enable unique. The output keeps one copy of each item while preserving a comma-separated result.

FAQ:

Glossary:

Collation

The rule used to compare strings for ordering.

Natural sort

Ordering that treats embedded digit runs as numeric values.

BCP 47 language tag

A locale identifier such as en-US, fr, or de.

Seeded shuffle

A randomized order that can be reproduced from the same input, settings, and seed.

Decorated output

The final text after optional line numbers, prefixes, suffixes, and joining are applied.

References:

• MDN Web Docs: Intl.Collator
• Unicode Technical Standard #10: Unicode Collation Algorithm
• RFC 5646: Tags for Identifying Languages
• MDN Web Docs: Regular Expressions
• W3C File API