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Text Length Sorter Online

Sort words, sentences, lines or paragraphs by their length - arrange text by character count in ascending or descending order

Ready to sort. Paste your text and click "Sort by Length".

How to Use This Text Length Sorter

  1. Paste your text - Put any text into the top input box. It can be a single sentence, multiple paragraphs, or just a list of words.
  2. Choose what to sort:
    • Words: Separates text into individual words and sorts them by length.
    • Sentences: Arranges complete sentences by their total character count.
    • Lines: Orders each line of text based on its length.
    • Paragraphs: Orders entire paragraphs based on their length.
  3. Choose sort direction:
    • Shortest first: From shortest to longest (A-Z style for length).
    • Longest first: From longest to shortest (Z-A style for length).
  4. Additional options:
    • Preserve punctuation: Keeps commas, periods, exclamation points, etc., attached to their original words/sentences.
    • Show length counts: Displays the character count next to each item in the result.
  5. Click "Sort by Length" - The tool will process your text and show the sorted result in the bottom box.
  6. Use your sorted text: Copy it to your clipboard, download as a text file, or try different sorting options.

How Text Length Sorting Works

This tool analyzes your text and sorts it based on character length, but how it defines "length" depends on what you're sorting:

Sorting Words

Words are separated by spaces, and length is counted as total characters including:

  • Letters (both uppercase and lowercase)
  • Attached punctuation (apostrophes in contractions like "don't", hyphens in "mother-in-law")
  • Accented characters (é, ñ, ü) and special characters

Example: "cat" (3), "doggy" (5), "elephant" (8) → sorted shortest to longest would remain in this order

Sorting Sentences

Sentences are identified by ending punctuation (. ! ?) followed by a space or line break. Length includes:

  • All words in the sentence
  • Spaces between words
  • Punctuation marks

Example: "Hi!" (3), "How are you?" (12), "I hope you're having a wonderful day!" (39)

Sorting Lines

Lines are separated by line breaks. Length includes everything in the line:

  • All characters in the line
  • Spaces and punctuation
  • Multiple words and partial sentences

Example: "One" (3), "Two words" (9), "Three words here" (16)

Sorting Paragraphs

Paragraphs are separated by blank lines. Length counts everything within the paragraph:

  • All sentences and words
  • Spaces, punctuation, and line breaks within the paragraph
  • All special characters and formatting

Paragraph length is useful for balancing content in documents or ensuring consistent information density.

Common Uses for Text Length Sorting

Sorting text by length might seem simple, but it has many practical applications:

  • Writing and editing: Identify overly long sentences that might need splitting, or find short, choppy sentences that could be combined for better flow.
  • Education: Language teachers can sort vocabulary words by length to create graduated learning lists (start with short words, progress to longer ones).
  • Content creation: Balance social media posts or marketing copy by ensuring consistent length across similar content elements.
  • Data analysis: Process survey responses by length to quickly identify detailed vs. brief answers, or analyze customer feedback for verbosity patterns.
  • Programming and coding: Sort variable names, function names, or code comments by length to improve readability and organization.
  • SEO and content optimization: Analyze keyword lengths or sort meta descriptions to ensure they fit within recommended character limits.
  • Study and research: Organize quotes or citations by length to find the most concise or comprehensive sources for your work.

Example Sorting Results

See how different sorting options transform your text:

Original TextSort OptionSorted Result
apple
banana
cherry
date
Words (shortest first)
date (4)
apple (5)
cherry (6)
banana (6)
What time is it?
Hello!
I need to buy milk, eggs, and bread from the store.
How are you feeling today?
Sentences (longest first)
I need to buy milk, eggs, and bread from the store. (58)
How are you feeling today? (25)
What time is it? (14)
Hello! (6)
First line
Another longer line
The shortest
This is the longest line in the example
Lines (shortest first)
The shortest (11)
First line (10)
Another longer line (19)
This is the longest line in the example (40)
First paragraph with a few words.

This is a longer paragraph that contains several sentences and more words overall. It's definitely longer than the first one.

Medium length paragraph here. Not too short, not too long.
Paragraphs (shortest first)
First paragraph with a few words. (34)

Medium length paragraph here. Not too short, not too long. (60)

This is a longer paragraph that contains several sentences and more words overall. It's definitely longer than the first one. (130)

Note: Numbers in parentheses show character counts when "Show length counts" is enabled