Word Alphabetizer – Sort Any List Into Alphabetical Order
The word alphabetizer takes any block of text — a comma-separated keyword list, a newline list of names, a pasted spreadsheet column, or a whole paragraph of prose — and returns it sorted into alphabetical order. It replaces the usual detour through a spreadsheet: paste, choose how the text should be split, and the sorted result appears instantly. Nothing is uploaded, so a client list or an unpublished glossary never leaves your browser.
Choosing how the text is split
The most common mistake in list sorting is splitting on the wrong thing. A newline split keeps multi-word entries such as cherry pie intact, which is what you want for names, book titles and product SKUs. A whitespace split breaks a paragraph into individual words, which — paired with remove duplicates — turns raw prose into a vocabulary list or the skeleton of a glossary. Comma, semicolon, tab and custom delimiters cover CSV cells, spreadsheet pastes and pipe-delimited exports. Because the output separator is chosen independently, you can convert a newline list into a comma-separated row in the same pass.
Lexicographic, natural and locale-aware ordering
A raw sort compares character codes, and in Unicode every uppercase Latin letter sits below every lowercase one. That is why an unconfigured sort yields Apple, Zebra, apple, zebrarather than the order a human expects. This tool uses the browser's native Intl.Collator instead, which applies proper alphabet rules and treats case as a minor detail. If you want the raw behaviour for debugging a database index or a shell sort, the strict code-point option reproduces it exactly.
Natural sorting compares embedded digit runs as numbers, so file2.txt precedes file10.txt instead of following it. Turn it on for file names, chapter headings, version strings and invoice codes. Locale collation matters as soon as accents appear: German treats ä as a variant of a, Swedish places it after z, Spanish puts ñ after n, and Turkish keeps dotted and dotless i apart. Choosing a locale selects the right rulebook; the strip-accents option instead folds café to cafe, which is usually what you want for slugs and lookup keys.
sort command and a database ORDER BY can all disagree about the same list, because each uses a different collation. Shell sort defaults to byte order under the C locale, most databases apply a per-column collation, and spreadsheets follow the interface language. A difference is not necessarily an error — it is a different rulebook.Sort keys beyond the whole item
The sort key selector changes what is compared while the original text is always what gets printed. Last word alphabetizes a First Last name list by surname without reformatting it. First word is useful for indented or prefixed lines. Reversed characters groups words by their endings, which is how rhyming dictionaries and suffix studies are built. Length orders by character count with alphabetical order as the tiebreaker. The ignore leading articles option follows the library convention: The Hobbit files under H and A Tale of Two Cities under T, yet both still display in full.
Cleaning the list while you sort
Real lists arrive messy. Trimming removes stray spaces that would otherwise push an item to the top; dropping blanks discards empty rows left behind by a copy-paste; remove duplicates collapses repeats and shows exactly which entries were dropped, so nothing disappears silently. Ignore-punctuation clusters O'Brien and OBrien together. Numbered output emits 1. apple, 2. banana ready to paste into a document.
Apple and apple count as the same item and the first occurrence in input order is kept. Turn case sensitivity on if the distinction is meaningful — for example when the list contains both a brand name and a common noun.Statistics, letter breakdown and exports
Alongside the sorted list the tool reports items in and out, duplicates removed, blanks dropped, unique count, first and last entries, the longest and shortest items, average length, and an already-sorted indicator so you know whether anything actually moved. The starting-letter breakdown shows how many items fall under each letter with a proportional bar and a # bucket for digits and symbols — handy for spotting a lopsided index or a keyword list that clusters on one letter. Results copy to the clipboard, download as TXT, or export as CSV with rank, item, sort key, starting letter and length columns.