Text Sorter

Introduction:

Sorting and sanitising text lines is a core stage in data cleaning, code management, and content publishing workflows. An ordered list reduces cognitive load, reveals hidden duplicates, and prepares material for downstream automation, including diff tools, static-site generators, and analytical pipelines where deterministic sequence matters, supporting strict quality assurance routines daily.

This browser-based utility receives any multiline text—typed, pasted, or uploaded—and immediately reorders the lines according to seven modes: standard alphabetical, natural alphanumeric, character-length ascending, full reversal, and entropy-based shuffle, each optionally conditioned by case sensitivity, duplicate suppression, blank removal, and edge trimming. Copy or download both the sorted output and a concise statistical summary for audit or reporting use.

Paste a product inventory exported from an e-commerce backend, toggle unique lines and natural order, then choose Copy TXT to inject a clean, deduplicated, human-logical list into your CMS pipeline; all processing occurs locally, so files never leave your device, avoiding cloud compliance headaches while also reducing manual proofreading cycles during content launches.

Technical Details:

Foundational Principles

Line-level ordering transforms an arbitrary sequence $begin:math:text$L$end:math:text$ into a deterministic sequence $begin:math:text$S$end:math:text$ that satisfies a well-defined total or partial order. Determinism enables binary diffing, hash generation, and reproducible builds, while optional deduplication enforces set semantics that eliminate redundant cognitive load during review. Natural alphanumeric comparison respects embedded integers, yielding domain-friendly ordering for filenames such as “Chapter 2” and “Chapter 10”. A locale-aware collation engine underpins all comparisons, providing predictable behaviour across diverse character sets and diacritics.

Pre-processing stages—whitespace trimming, blank-line filtering, and case normalisation—operate as idempotent pure functions, ensuring that repeated runs yield identical output. Duplicate removal employs a hash-set keyed by either raw or case-folded content, achieving average-case O(1) membership checks. Reversal and shuffle modes deliberately break lexical order to meet specialised needs such as last-in-first-out stacks or unbiased sampling.

Formula Overview

Variables & Parameters

Scoring & Categorisation

• Exact Match Count: difference between total and unique lines.
• Blank Rate: percentage of empty lines removed during preprocessing.
• Output Volume: final line count after all operations.
• Entropy Indicator: present only for shuffle mode to denote randomness.

Representative Calculations

Edge Cases & Assumptions

• Sorting a single line returns the original input unaltered.
• Lines containing only whitespace are treated as blank when trimming is enabled.
• Shuffle relies on Math.random(); cryptographic randomness is not guaranteed.
• Locale fallback defaults to undefined, mapping to the browser setting; results vary with user locale.

Performance & Stability

The underlying collation engine executes comparison in O(1), yielding overall O(n log n) complexity for sort modes and O(n) for reversal or duplication checks. Memory footprint scales linearly with input size, as the algorithm operates on in-memory arrays to enable instant clipboard operations. Tested in current evergreen browsers, the component adheres to ES2020 standards and requires no server calls, ensuring offline availability.

Step-by-Step Guide:

Follow these steps to transform any collection of lines into a predictable sequence.

1. Insert text by typing, pasting, or using the Upload control.
2. Select a sort mode from the dropdown to determine ordering logic.
3. Toggle Case sensitive, Delete duplicate lines, and other switches as needed.
4. Observe the live result under the Output tab; use Copy TXT or Download TXT to export.
5. Switch to Stats to review total, unique, and blank counts; export via CSV when required.

FAQ:

Glossary:

Alphabetical order

Standard lexicographic sequence based on Unicode code points.

Natural order

Ordering that treats digit strings as numbers for intuitive sorting.

Case sensitivity

Whether uppercase and lowercase letters are distinguished during comparison.

Duplicate line

An exact text match appearing more than once in the input set.

Collation engine

Locale-aware comparator that determines sequence rules for character strings.