diff --git a/fmtsort/export_test.go b/fmtsort/export_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..25cbb5d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fmtsort/export_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+// Copyright 2018 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package fmtsort
+
+import "reflect"
+
+func Compare(a, b reflect.Value) int {
+	return compare(a, b)
+}
diff --git a/fmtsort/sort.go b/fmtsort/sort.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..70a305a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fmtsort/sort.go
@@ -0,0 +1,216 @@
+// Copyright 2018 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+// Package fmtsort provides a general stable ordering mechanism
+// for maps, on behalf of the fmt and text/template packages.
+// It is not guaranteed to be efficient and works only for types
+// that are valid map keys.
+package fmtsort
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"sort"
+)
+
+// Note: Throughout this package we avoid calling reflect.Value.Interface as
+// it is not always legal to do so and it's easier to avoid the issue than to face it.
+
+// SortedMap represents a map's keys and values. The keys and values are
+// aligned in index order: Value[i] is the value in the map corresponding to Key[i].
+type SortedMap struct {
+	Key   []reflect.Value
+	Value []reflect.Value
+}
+
+func (o *SortedMap) Len() int           { return len(o.Key) }
+func (o *SortedMap) Less(i, j int) bool { return compare(o.Key[i], o.Key[j]) < 0 }
+func (o *SortedMap) Swap(i, j int) {
+	o.Key[i], o.Key[j] = o.Key[j], o.Key[i]
+	o.Value[i], o.Value[j] = o.Value[j], o.Value[i]
+}
+
+// Sort accepts a map and returns a SortedMap that has the same keys and
+// values but in a stable sorted order according to the keys, modulo issues
+// raised by unorderable key values such as NaNs.
+//
+// The ordering rules are more general than with Go's < operator:
+//
+//  - when applicable, nil compares low
+//  - ints, floats, and strings order by <
+//  - NaN compares less than non-NaN floats
+//  - bool compares false before true
+//  - complex compares real, then imag
+//  - pointers compare by machine address
+//  - channel values compare by machine address
+//  - structs compare each field in turn
+//  - arrays compare each element in turn.
+//    Otherwise identical arrays compare by length.
+//  - interface values compare first by reflect.Type describing the concrete type
+//    and then by concrete value as described in the previous rules.
+//
+func Sort(mapValue reflect.Value) *SortedMap {
+	if mapValue.Type().Kind() != reflect.Map {
+		return nil
+	}
+	key := make([]reflect.Value, mapValue.Len())
+	value := make([]reflect.Value, len(key))
+	iter := mapValue.MapRange()
+	for i := 0; iter.Next(); i++ {
+		key[i] = iter.Key()
+		value[i] = iter.Value()
+	}
+	sorted := &SortedMap{
+		Key:   key,
+		Value: value,
+	}
+	sort.Stable(sorted)
+	return sorted
+}
+
+// compare compares two values of the same type. It returns -1, 0, 1
+// according to whether a > b (1), a == b (0), or a < b (-1).
+// If the types differ, it returns -1.
+// See the comment on Sort for the comparison rules.
+func compare(aVal, bVal reflect.Value) int {
+	aType, bType := aVal.Type(), bVal.Type()
+	if aType != bType {
+		return -1 // No good answer possible, but don't return 0: they're not equal.
+	}
+	switch aVal.Kind() {
+	case reflect.Int, reflect.Int8, reflect.Int16, reflect.Int32, reflect.Int64:
+		a, b := aVal.Int(), bVal.Int()
+		switch {
+		case a < b:
+			return -1
+		case a > b:
+			return 1
+		default:
+			return 0
+		}
+	case reflect.Uint, reflect.Uint8, reflect.Uint16, reflect.Uint32, reflect.Uint64, reflect.Uintptr:
+		a, b := aVal.Uint(), bVal.Uint()
+		switch {
+		case a < b:
+			return -1
+		case a > b:
+			return 1
+		default:
+			return 0
+		}
+	case reflect.String:
+		a, b := aVal.String(), bVal.String()
+		switch {
+		case a < b:
+			return -1
+		case a > b:
+			return 1
+		default:
+			return 0
+		}
+	case reflect.Float32, reflect.Float64:
+		return floatCompare(aVal.Float(), bVal.Float())
+	case reflect.Complex64, reflect.Complex128:
+		a, b := aVal.Complex(), bVal.Complex()
+		if c := floatCompare(real(a), real(b)); c != 0 {
+			return c
+		}
+		return floatCompare(imag(a), imag(b))
+	case reflect.Bool:
+		a, b := aVal.Bool(), bVal.Bool()
+		switch {
+		case a == b:
+			return 0
+		case a:
+			return 1
+		default:
+			return -1
+		}
+	case reflect.Ptr:
+		a, b := aVal.Pointer(), bVal.Pointer()
+		switch {
+		case a < b:
+			return -1
+		case a > b:
+			return 1
+		default:
+			return 0
+		}
+	case reflect.Chan:
+		if c, ok := nilCompare(aVal, bVal); ok {
+			return c
+		}
+		ap, bp := aVal.Pointer(), bVal.Pointer()
+		switch {
+		case ap < bp:
+			return -1
+		case ap > bp:
+			return 1
+		default:
+			return 0
+		}
+	case reflect.Struct:
+		for i := 0; i < aVal.NumField(); i++ {
+			if c := compare(aVal.Field(i), bVal.Field(i)); c != 0 {
+				return c
+			}
+		}
+		return 0
+	case reflect.Array:
+		for i := 0; i < aVal.Len(); i++ {
+			if c := compare(aVal.Index(i), bVal.Index(i)); c != 0 {
+				return c
+			}
+		}
+		return 0
+	case reflect.Interface:
+		if c, ok := nilCompare(aVal, bVal); ok {
+			return c
+		}
+		c := compare(reflect.ValueOf(aVal.Elem().Type()), reflect.ValueOf(bVal.Elem().Type()))
+		if c != 0 {
+			return c
+		}
+		return compare(aVal.Elem(), bVal.Elem())
+	default:
+		// Certain types cannot appear as keys (maps, funcs, slices), but be explicit.
+		panic("bad type in compare: " + aType.String())
+	}
+}
+
+// nilCompare checks whether either value is nil. If not, the boolean is false.
+// If either value is nil, the boolean is true and the integer is the comparison
+// value. The comparison is defined to be 0 if both are nil, otherwise the one
+// nil value compares low. Both arguments must represent a chan, func,
+// interface, map, pointer, or slice.
+func nilCompare(aVal, bVal reflect.Value) (int, bool) {
+	if aVal.IsNil() {
+		if bVal.IsNil() {
+			return 0, true
+		}
+		return -1, true
+	}
+	if bVal.IsNil() {
+		return 1, true
+	}
+	return 0, false
+}
+
+// floatCompare compares two floating-point values. NaNs compare low.
+func floatCompare(a, b float64) int {
+	switch {
+	case isNaN(a):
+		return -1 // No good answer if b is a NaN so don't bother checking.
+	case isNaN(b):
+		return 1
+	case a < b:
+		return -1
+	case a > b:
+		return 1
+	}
+	return 0
+}
+
+func isNaN(a float64) bool {
+	return a != a
+}
diff --git a/fmtsort/sort_test.go b/fmtsort/sort_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ac81cc3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fmtsort/sort_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,247 @@
+// Copyright 2018 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package fmtsort_test
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"math"
+	"reflect"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal/fmtsort"
+)
+
+var compareTests = [][]reflect.Value{
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(int(0)), -1, 0, 1),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(int8(0)), -1, 0, 1),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(int16(0)), -1, 0, 1),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(int32(0)), -1, 0, 1),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(int64(0)), -1, 0, 1),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(uint(0)), 0, 1, 5),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(uint8(0)), 0, 1, 5),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(uint16(0)), 0, 1, 5),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(uint32(0)), 0, 1, 5),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(uint64(0)), 0, 1, 5),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(uintptr(0)), 0, 1, 5),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(string("")), "", "a", "ab"),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(float32(0)), math.NaN(), math.Inf(-1), -1e10, 0, 1e10, math.Inf(1)),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(float64(0)), math.NaN(), math.Inf(-1), -1e10, 0, 1e10, math.Inf(1)),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(complex64(0+1i)), -1-1i, -1+0i, -1+1i, 0-1i, 0+0i, 0+1i, 1-1i, 1+0i, 1+1i),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(complex128(0+1i)), -1-1i, -1+0i, -1+1i, 0-1i, 0+0i, 0+1i, 1-1i, 1+0i, 1+1i),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(false), false, true),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(&ints[0]), &ints[0], &ints[1], &ints[2]),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(chans[0]), chans[0], chans[1], chans[2]),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(toy{}), toy{0, 1}, toy{0, 2}, toy{1, -1}, toy{1, 1}),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf([2]int{}), [2]int{1, 1}, [2]int{1, 2}, [2]int{2, 0}),
+	ct(reflect.TypeOf(interface{}(interface{}(0))), iFace, 1, 2, 3),
+}
+
+var iFace interface{}
+
+func ct(typ reflect.Type, args ...interface{}) []reflect.Value {
+	value := make([]reflect.Value, len(args))
+	for i, v := range args {
+		x := reflect.ValueOf(v)
+		if !x.IsValid() { // Make it a typed nil.
+			x = reflect.Zero(typ)
+		} else {
+			x = x.Convert(typ)
+		}
+		value[i] = x
+	}
+	return value
+}
+
+func TestCompare(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, test := range compareTests {
+		for i, v0 := range test {
+			for j, v1 := range test {
+				c := fmtsort.Compare(v0, v1)
+				var expect int
+				switch {
+				case i == j:
+					expect = 0
+					// NaNs are tricky.
+					if typ := v0.Type(); (typ.Kind() == reflect.Float32 || typ.Kind() == reflect.Float64) && math.IsNaN(v0.Float()) {
+						expect = -1
+					}
+				case i < j:
+					expect = -1
+				case i > j:
+					expect = 1
+				}
+				if c != expect {
+					t.Errorf("%s: compare(%v,%v)=%d; expect %d", v0.Type(), v0, v1, c, expect)
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+type sortTest struct {
+	data  interface{} // Always a map.
+	print string      // Printed result using our custom printer.
+}
+
+var sortTests = []sortTest{
+	{
+		map[int]string{7: "bar", -3: "foo"},
+		"-3:foo 7:bar",
+	},
+	{
+		map[uint8]string{7: "bar", 3: "foo"},
+		"3:foo 7:bar",
+	},
+	{
+		map[string]string{"7": "bar", "3": "foo"},
+		"3:foo 7:bar",
+	},
+	{
+		map[float64]string{7: "bar", -3: "foo", math.NaN(): "nan", math.Inf(0): "inf"},
+		"NaN:nan -3:foo 7:bar +Inf:inf",
+	},
+	{
+		map[complex128]string{7 + 2i: "bar2", 7 + 1i: "bar", -3: "foo", complex(math.NaN(), 0i): "nan", complex(math.Inf(0), 0i): "inf"},
+		"(NaN+0i):nan (-3+0i):foo (7+1i):bar (7+2i):bar2 (+Inf+0i):inf",
+	},
+	{
+		map[bool]string{true: "true", false: "false"},
+		"false:false true:true",
+	},
+	{
+		chanMap(),
+		"CHAN0:0 CHAN1:1 CHAN2:2",
+	},
+	{
+		pointerMap(),
+		"PTR0:0 PTR1:1 PTR2:2",
+	},
+	{
+		map[toy]string{toy{7, 2}: "72", toy{7, 1}: "71", toy{3, 4}: "34"},
+		"{3 4}:34 {7 1}:71 {7 2}:72",
+	},
+	{
+		map[[2]int]string{{7, 2}: "72", {7, 1}: "71", {3, 4}: "34"},
+		"[3 4]:34 [7 1]:71 [7 2]:72",
+	},
+}
+
+func sprint(data interface{}) string {
+	om := fmtsort.Sort(reflect.ValueOf(data))
+	if om == nil {
+		return "nil"
+	}
+	b := new(strings.Builder)
+	for i, key := range om.Key {
+		if i > 0 {
+			b.WriteRune(' ')
+		}
+		b.WriteString(sprintKey(key))
+		b.WriteRune(':')
+		b.WriteString(fmt.Sprint(om.Value[i]))
+	}
+	return b.String()
+}
+
+// sprintKey formats a reflect.Value but gives reproducible values for some
+// problematic types such as pointers. Note that it only does special handling
+// for the troublesome types used in the test cases; it is not a general
+// printer.
+func sprintKey(key reflect.Value) string {
+	switch str := key.Type().String(); str {
+	case "*int":
+		ptr := key.Interface().(*int)
+		for i := range ints {
+			if ptr == &ints[i] {
+				return fmt.Sprintf("PTR%d", i)
+			}
+		}
+		return "PTR???"
+	case "chan int":
+		c := key.Interface().(chan int)
+		for i := range chans {
+			if c == chans[i] {
+				return fmt.Sprintf("CHAN%d", i)
+			}
+		}
+		return "CHAN???"
+	default:
+		return fmt.Sprint(key)
+	}
+}
+
+var (
+	ints  [3]int
+	chans = [3]chan int{make(chan int), make(chan int), make(chan int)}
+)
+
+func pointerMap() map[*int]string {
+	m := make(map[*int]string)
+	for i := 2; i >= 0; i-- {
+		m[&ints[i]] = fmt.Sprint(i)
+	}
+	return m
+}
+
+func chanMap() map[chan int]string {
+	m := make(map[chan int]string)
+	for i := 2; i >= 0; i-- {
+		m[chans[i]] = fmt.Sprint(i)
+	}
+	return m
+}
+
+type toy struct {
+	A int // Exported.
+	b int // Unexported.
+}
+
+func TestOrder(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, test := range sortTests {
+		got := sprint(test.data)
+		if got != test.print {
+			t.Errorf("%s: got %q, want %q", reflect.TypeOf(test.data), got, test.print)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestInterface(t *testing.T) {
+	// A map containing multiple concrete types should be sorted by type,
+	// then value. However, the relative ordering of types is unspecified,
+	// so test this by checking the presence of sorted subgroups.
+	m := map[interface{}]string{
+		[2]int{1, 0}:             "",
+		[2]int{0, 1}:             "",
+		true:                     "",
+		false:                    "",
+		3.1:                      "",
+		2.1:                      "",
+		1.1:                      "",
+		math.NaN():               "",
+		3:                        "",
+		2:                        "",
+		1:                        "",
+		"c":                      "",
+		"b":                      "",
+		"a":                      "",
+		struct{ x, y int }{1, 0}: "",
+		struct{ x, y int }{0, 1}: "",
+	}
+	got := sprint(m)
+	typeGroups := []string{
+		"NaN: 1.1: 2.1: 3.1:", // float64
+		"false: true:",        // bool
+		"1: 2: 3:",            // int
+		"a: b: c:",            // string
+		"[0 1]: [1 0]:",       // [2]int
+		"{0 1}: {1 0}:",       // struct{ x int; y int }
+	}
+	for _, g := range typeGroups {
+		if !strings.Contains(got, g) {
+			t.Errorf("sorted map should contain %q", g)
+		}
+	}
+}