Sort Lines — How to Use It Online for Free
Sort Lines arranges the lines of any list your way: A–Z, Z–A, reversed, shuffled, numbered, or with empty lines deleted. It turns a jumbled paste into an ordered list in one click — the small tool you reach for more often than you expect.
Sorting sounds trivial until the list is 300 lines. The numbering option quietly doubles as a line counter and turns a plain list into a checklist; deleting empty lines fixes the gaps that pasted data always brings. Combined with Remove Duplicate Lines, this is the complete two-step kit for cleaning any list.
How to use the Sort Lines
- Paste your list into the box — one item per line.
- Choose the order — A–Z, Z–A, reverse, or shuffle.
- Optionally add numbering or delete empty lines.
- Copy the sorted list or download it.
A quick example
A teacher has 45 competition entries in arrival order and needs an alphabetical register. Paste, sort A–Z, add numbering — the register is ready to print, with each name numbered 1 to 45.
Tips for better results
- Names sort by their first letter — for surname order, put surnames first before sorting.
- Shuffle after sorting if you need a demonstrably fair random order.
- Numbering starts from the top of the current list — sort first, then number.
Working with plain text
Plain text is the most portable format there is — it pastes into forms, documents, code and messages without carrying hidden formatting with it. Most text trouble comes from invisible things: double spaces, stray blank lines, trailing spaces, and encoding quirks picked up when text is copied from PDFs and web pages. The workflow that fixes almost anything is: clean first (remove extra spaces and duplicates), then transform (case, sorting, find-and-replace), then measure (word count). Because every tool here works on a pasted copy in your browser, you can experiment freely — your original document is never at risk, and nothing you paste leaves your device.
Common questions
What is the difference between Z–A and reverse? Z–A sorts alphabetically backwards. Reverse keeps no alphabetical order at all — it simply flips your list upside down, last line first. Use reverse for undoing an order, Z–A for a descending sort.
When would I shuffle a list? For a fair random order: a speaking order for a class, a playlist draw, a queue for auditions. Shuffling by computer is fairer than 'randomly' picking by hand, which always has favourites.
Do I need to sign up or install anything? No. The Sort Lines is completely free, needs no account and nothing to install — it runs in your browser, and anything you type stays on your device.
One tool rarely finishes the whole job. The natural companions to this one are covered in the Word Counter guide and the Case Converter guide — between them, most text tasks can be handled end to end in the browser, with no installs and no accounts.