Paste a list and clear out repeated lines in one click. The first copy of each line stays, the repeats go – perfect for cleaning name lists, keywords and inventories.
Our guide shows the same clean-up by hand, for short lists: How to Remove Duplicate Lines from a List
How to use the Remove Duplicate Lines
- Paste your list into the top box, one item per line.
- Leave Match case unticked for most jobs. Tick it only if “Apple” and “apple” should count as different lines.
- Press Clean Up.
- Read the cleaned list in the bottom box. The line above it tells you how many duplicates came out.
- Press Copy result to take the list away, or Clear to start again.
What the results mean
The cleaned list keeps the first copy of each line and removes every later repeat. The order does not change: the tool never sorts, so your list stays in the order you pasted it, just shorter. That matters for lists where order carries meaning, such as a running order, a priority list or a set of steps.
Match case controls what counts as “the same line”. Leave it unticked, the starting setting, and the tool ignores capitals: “Apple”, “apple” and “APPLE” are one line, and the first version pasted is the one kept. Tick it and capitals make lines different, so “Apple” and “apple” can both stay in the list. Names, codes and passwords are the usual reasons to tick it.
The result line does the counting for you. “Removed 2 duplicate lines (5 → 3 lines)” means five lines went in, three came out, and two of them were repeats.
Worked example
Paste these five lines into the top box:
Apple
Banana
Apple
Cherry
Banana
Leave Match case unticked and press Clean Up. The cleaned list is:
Apple
Banana
Cherry
The result line reads: “Removed 2 duplicate lines (5 → 3 lines).” Apple and Banana each appeared twice, so one copy of each was removed. Cherry appeared once, so it stays exactly where it was, third in the list.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting the Match case setting. Unticked, an “apple” sitting under “Apple” disappears as a duplicate. Ticked, a list full of case variants barely shrinks. Check the setting before you blame the tool.
- Expecting the list to come out sorted. It will not. Cleaning keeps your order, so if you want alphabetical order as well, sort the cleaned list afterwards.
- Leaving stray spaces on the ends of lines. “Apple” and “Apple ” with a trailing space look identical, but they count as different lines, so both stay. If a duplicate seems to survive, look for a hidden space.
- Pasting a paragraph instead of a list. The tool compares whole lines. Sentences inside one long line are never checked against each other.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Which copy of a repeated line is kept?
The first one. Later copies are removed, and the first copy keeps its place in the list, along with its capitals and its spelling.
Q: What happens to blank lines in my list?
They count as lines too. Several blank lines are repeats of each other, so the tool removes the extras and leaves a single blank line behind.
Q: Is my list uploaded or saved anywhere?
No. The cleaning happens in your own browser, on your own device. Paste shopping lists, class lists or email addresses without worrying — nothing is sent to us or kept.