Alphabetical order is a system of arranging character strings in order based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering of an alphabet. The result of placing a set of words or strings in alphabetical order is that all of the strings beginning with the same letter are grouped together, and within that grouping, all words beginning with the same two-letter sequence are grouped together, and so on. Here are some examples of straightforward alphabetical ordering:
- As; Aster; Astrolabe; Astronomy; Astrophysics; At; Ataman; Attack; Baa
- Ape, ball, dad, game, sun, yoyo
- Cat, dog, elephant, horse, penguin, tiger
If more than one word starts with the same letter, you should look at the second letter of the word. In some cases, you may need to look at the third word if two or more words have the same first and second letters. Looking up words in a dictionary is easy if you know how to arrange words alphabetically.
