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How to Sort a List by Number Online

Sort lines by their leading number so 2 comes before 10. Use Tools.Town Sort List by Number — free and in-browser.

14 August 2026 4 min read By Tools.Town Team Fact Checked

Key Takeaways

  • It compares characters: 1 comes before 2, so 10 sorts before 2
  • Switch to Natural mode on Text Sorter — it understands numbers embedded in strings

Why numeric sort matters

Paste 30, 2, 100 into a normal A→Z sorter and you get 100, 2, 30 — character order, not value order. Sort List by Number opens Text Sorter in numeric mode so values sort correctly.


Steps

Paste lines

One number (or number-leading line) per row.

Numeric mode

Already selected on the Sort List by Number page.

Direction

Leave Reverse off for small→large; on for large→small.

Copy

Copy the sorted output.


Example

InputAlphabeticalNumeric
301002
2230
10030100

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does alphabetical sort put 10 before 2?
It compares characters: 1 comes before 2, so 10 sorts before 2. Numeric mode parses the number value instead.
What about item2 vs item10?
Switch to Natural mode on Text Sorter — it understands numbers embedded in strings.

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