Good for
Price lists and resale listings, scores and grades, sports and game stats, file sizes, order or ticket numbers, and measurements. If your numbers are in a particular column, such as a score after a name, use Sort by column to pick it exactly.
Why not just alphabetize?
An alphabetical sort compares numbers one character at a time, so “100” comes before “9” because 1 is less than 9. A numerical sort reads the whole number, so you get 9, 25, 100 the way you’d expect.
What counts as a number
- Whole numbers, decimals and negative numbers:
42,3.14,-7 - Thousands separators:
1,299is read as one thousand two hundred ninety-nine - Money and units:
$19.99,250ms,16GB - Shorthand:
1.5k= 1,500,2M= 2,000,000,3G= 3,000,000,000
If a line has more than one number, it’s sorted by the largest one. Lines with no number at all move to the top, in their original order.
Plain numbers
100 9 -3 25.5 1,000 0.75
-3 0.75 9 25.5 100 1,000
Lines with numbers in them
Laptop $1,299 Mouse $25 Monitor $189.99 Cable $7 Desk $350
Cable $7 Mouse $25 Monitor $189.99 Desk $350 Laptop $1,299
Short forms like k and M
Channel A: 950k subscribers Channel B: 1.2M subscribers Channel C: 12k subscribers
Channel B: 1.2M subscribers Channel A: 950k subscribers Channel C: 12k subscribers
Questions
Why did a line with two numbers end up in an odd place?
Lines are sorted by the largest number they contain. For a line like “Room 12, 300 sq ft” that’s 300. To sort by a specific column, use Remove text before or after to cut each line down first.
Can I sort numbers separated by commas?
Yes. Set “Items are separated by” to Commas, or let it be detected automatically when the list is on one line.
How do I sort dates?
For month names use Sort by month. Dates written as YYYY-MM-DD already sort correctly with Alphabetize.