How to sort lines by their numbers
Paste a list where each row mixes text and figures and the whole rows come back ordered by the size of those figures. It fits sales rows, score tables, file listings with sizes, and ranking lists.
You choose which number each line is read by. The default is the first number in the line. When rows begin with a date or an index and end with the amount you care about, switch to the last number rule. The third rule strips everything except digits and the decimal point, then reads what remains as a single figure, treating the row as negative only when the line itself starts with a minus sign. Under the first and last rules, a minus sign attached directly to the number and a decimal point are both part of the value.
Lines where no number is found collect at the bottom in their original order. Turn on the drop option to leave them out of the result entirely. Either way the count of those lines is displayed, so a stray empty or text only row never passes unnoticed. Rows sharing the same value keep the order you pasted them in.
The comma option, on by default, removes every comma in a line before looking for a number, so an amount list pasted straight from a spreadsheet reads 1,200 as 1200.
Frequently Asked Questions
By default the first number in the line. If your rows start with a date and end with an amount, switch to the last number rule. To treat the whole line as a single figure, use the third rule which strips every non numeric character first.
At the bottom of the result, in their original order. Turn on the drop option to leave them out entirely. Either way the count of such lines is shown in the results panel.
Yes. A leading minus sign and a decimal point are both read, so -30 sorts below zero and 1.5 sorts between 1 and 2.