Line sorter: questions and guides
Each guide here answers one question with a practical example, then takes you to the tool to try it yourself. Guides: 9.
Questions
- How to sort a list alphabeticallyHow to sort a list of names or products alphabetically with ordering that understands Arabic, and why “item 10” comes before “item 2” unless you turn on numeric sorting.
- How do I sort my product price list from most expensive to cheapest?Put the price at the start of each line, turn on numeric sorting and choose descending. Real examples of why 9 lands above 120 without numeric sorting.
- I sorted weights like 1.5 kg and 1.25 kg and 1.5 came before 1.25; how do I fix that?Numeric sorting reads the digits after the decimal point as a whole number, so 5 beats 25. Write every value with the same number of decimals, such as 1.50.
- After sorting my customer names, a few names jumped to the top out of order; why?Usually a hidden space at the start of the line. Turn on ignore leading spaces to sort from the first visible letter, or strip the spaces with the whitespace cleaner.
- Should I use the sorter's remove-duplicates option or the duplicate line remover?The sorter drops exactly identical lines while it sorts. The duplicate remover can ignore diacritics and spaces and keeps the original order. When to use which.
- I sorted my shipping cities alphabetically and every city starting with Al- ended up grouped at the top; why?The sorter compares the whole name and does not skip the Arabic article, so Riyadh, Dammam and Khobar all file under alef. When that helps, and how to avoid it.
- How do I sort a list of orders by date from oldest to newest?Start each line with the date as year-month-day, such as 2026-01-20, and alphabetical order becomes chronological. Day/month/year sorts by day and mixes months.
- Is the customer name list I sort sent to any server?No. Sorting runs in your browser with its built-in ordering rules, and the list is never uploaded or stored. Here is how to check that yourself in a minute.
- After sorting, blank lines appeared at the top of my list; where did they come from and how do I get rid of them?An empty line sorts before any text, so every blank line gathers at the top. The remove-empty-lines option drops them; a line that stays hides an invisible character.