How to Sort a List Alphabetically

Alphabetical order makes lists easier to scan and compare. Here’s how to sort one in seconds, and how to avoid the classic problems with capital letters and numbers.

Open Sort A → Z

Step by step

  1. Open Sort A → Z

    For more options — Z → A, by length or by number — use Sort Lines.

  2. Paste your list

    Put one item per line. If your items are separated by commas, split them first with Remove Commas in “Split into lines” mode.

  3. Check the options

    Sorting ignores case by default, so “apple” and “Apple” sit together. Natural number order puts “item2” before “item10”. You can also remove duplicates while sorting.

  4. Sort and save

    Press Sort lines, then copy or download your sorted list.

Example

Before
banana
Apple
item10
cherry
item2
After
Apple
banana
cherry
item2
item10

Case is ignored and numbers inside words sort naturally.

Why “10” sometimes comes before “2”

Simple sorting compares text one character at a time, so “10” comes before “2” because “1” comes before “2”. Natural ordering compares the numbers by value. To sort lines that start with numbers by their value, use Sort Numerically.

In Word

Select the list, then choose Home → Sort (the A→Z button) and pick Paragraphs and Text.

In Excel or Google Sheets

Select the column and choose Data → Sort A → Z. In Google Sheets, the SORT function returns a sorted copy.

=SORT(A2:A)

On the command line

sort -f ignores case; add -V for natural (version) ordering of numbers.

sort -f -V list.txt > sorted.txt

Try Sort A → Z

Sort lines alphabetically from A to Z.

Open Sort A → Z

Frequently asked questions

How do I sort in reverse?

Use Sort Z → A, or choose “Z → A” in Sort Lines.

Are accented letters sorted correctly?

Yes. Sorting uses language-aware comparison, so “é” sorts with “e” rather than after “z”.