What is date sorting?

Date sorting is the process of arranging dates in chronological order, either from oldest to newest (ascending) or newest to oldest (descending). This is essential for organizing logs, events, schedules, and any time-based data. The challenge lies in the variety of date formats used worldwide—from ISO 8601 to regional formats like MM/DD/YYYY (US) or DD/MM/YYYY (European)—which can make sorting difficult without proper parsing.

Tool description

This tool sorts date strings in various formats chronologically. It can automatically detect date formats or allow you to manually specify the format (ISO 8601, US format, European format, Unix timestamps, and more). You can choose to sort dates in ascending order (oldest first) or descending order (newest first), and optionally skip invalid dates that cannot be parsed.

Features

  • Auto-detect date formats - Automatically recognizes common date formats
  • 15+ supported formats - Including ISO 8601, US (MM/DD/YYYY), European (DD/MM/YYYY), Unix timestamps, and formats with time
  • Bidirectional sorting - Sort ascending (oldest first) or descending (newest first)
  • Real-time processing - Dates are sorted automatically as you type
  • Invalid date handling - Option to skip or keep invalid dates in output
  • Format validation - Shows warnings when dates cannot be parsed
  • Code editor interface - Syntax-highlighted input and output areas
  • Multi-line support - Process multiple dates at once, one per line

Use Cases

  • Log file sorting - Organize log entries by timestamp
  • Event scheduling - Arrange events chronologically
  • Data analysis - Sort timestamped data for analysis
  • File organization - Order files by creation or modification dates
  • History records - Chronologically arrange historical entries
  • Timeline creation - Build timelines from unsorted date lists
  • Database imports - Pre-sort date data before importing
  • Report generation - Order report data by date

Supported Date Formats

  • Auto Detect - Automatically identifies the format
  • YYYY-MM-DD - ISO 8601 format (2024-01-15)
  • MM/DD/YYYY - US format (01/15/2024)
  • DD/MM/YYYY - European format (15/01/2024)
  • DD-MM-YYYY - Hyphen-separated European (15-01-2024)
  • YYYY/MM/DD - Slash-separated ISO (2024/01/15)
  • MMM DD, YYYY - Short month name (Jan 15, 2024)
  • DD MMM YYYY - European short month (15 Jan 2024)
  • MMMM DD, YYYY - Full month name (January 15, 2024)
  • DD MMMM YYYY - European full month (15 January 2024)
  • YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss - ISO with time (2024-01-15 14:30:00)
  • MM/DD/YYYY HH:mm:ss - US with time (01/15/2024 14:30:00)
  • DD/MM/YYYY HH:mm:ss - European with time (15/01/2024 14:30:00)
  • ISO 8601 - Full ISO format with timezone
  • Unix Timestamp - Seconds since epoch (1705329000)