Prettier Plugin: Sort Imports (by length or alphabetically)

1.0.0 verified Sat Apr 25 auth: no javascript

A Prettier plugin that automatically sorts import statements by line length or alphabetically. V1.7.0 active, released for Prettier 2.x+ (Node.js 12+). Differentiators: supports sorting by import line length (unique feature), flexible import type ordering (NPM packages vs local values vs local types), newline stripping between groups, and ignore comments. Competitors like @trivago/prettier-plugin-sort-imports focus on alphabetical/group-based sorting and do not offer length-based sorting.

Common errors

error Cannot find module 'prettier-plugin-sort-imports' ↓

cause Plugin not installed or not in node_modules.

fix

Run npm install --save-dev prettier-plugin-sort-imports to install the plugin.

error Unknown option: sortingMethod ↓

cause Prettier version <2.0.0 does not support plugin options properly.

fix

Upgrade Prettier to 2.0.0+ or use a .prettierrc.js file with plugins: [require.resolve('prettier-plugin-sort-imports')].

error Invalid sorting method: 'alphabetical' is not a valid option ↓

cause Typo in option value (e.g., 'alphabetical' instead of 'alphabetical').

fix

Check the spelling: use "sortingMethod": "alphabetical" (correct spelling: alphabetical).

error Error: importTypeOrder must contain either 'all' or a combination of 'NPMPackages', 'localImportsValue', 'localImportsType'. ↓

cause Invalid combination of import types in `importTypeOrder`.

fix

Use one of: ['all'], ['NPMPackages', 'localImports'], or ['NPMPackages', 'localImportsValue', 'localImportsType'].

Warnings

gotcha Alphabetical sorting sorts by the entire import path, so `../` imports may rank lower than expected. ↓

fix Use `'lineLength'` sorting method if you want a different order.

deprecated The option `localImports` in `importTypeOrder` is deprecated in favor of using both `localImportsValue` and `localImportsType`. ↓

fix Use `['NPMPackages', 'localImportsValue', 'localImportsType']` instead of `['NPMPackages', 'localImports']`.

breaking Plugin no longer works with Prettier <2.0.0. ↓

fix Upgrade Prettier to 2.0.0 or later.

gotcha The `packageJSONFiles` option is only used when `importTypeOrder` includes `'NPMPackages'`. Setting it with `['all']` has no effect. ↓

fix Only define `packageJSONFiles` if you are using `NPMPackages` in `importTypeOrder`.

gotcha Comments between imports may be moved if `stripNewlines` is true. The comment sticks to the import above it initially. ↓

fix Use `// sort-imports-begin-ignore` and `// sort-imports-end-ignore` to preserve comments in a block.

Install

npm install prettier-plugin-sort-imports-desc

yarn add prettier-plugin-sort-imports-desc

pnpm add prettier-plugin-sort-imports-desc

Imports

none (plugin autoloads)
wrong
```
N/A
```
correct
```
// Add to .prettierrc:
{
  "plugins": ["prettier-plugin-sort-imports"]
}
```
No import needed in code; just install and configure via Prettier config.

Quickstart

Install plugin and configure Prettier to sort imports by length, strip newlines, and group NPM packages before local imports with a blank line between groups.

npm install --save-dev prettier-plugin-sort-imports
# Create .prettierrc with:
{
  "plugins": ["prettier-plugin-sort-imports"],
  "sortingMethod": "lineLength",
  "stripNewlines": true,
  "importTypeOrder": ["NPMPackages", "localImports"],
  "newlineBetweenTypes": true
}