diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdb_output.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdb_output.py
index b80f9958ef..e07811b749 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdb_output.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdb_output.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ class PDBOutput(OutputFormatPlugin):
             level=OptionRecommendation.LOW,
             short_switch='f', choices=list(ALL_FORMAT_WRITERS),
             help=(_('Format to use inside the pdb container. Choices are:')+\
-            ' %s' % list(ALL_FORMAT_WRITERS))),
+            ' %s' % sorted(ALL_FORMAT_WRITERS))),
         OptionRecommendation(name='pdb_output_encoding', recommended_value='cp1252',
             level=OptionRecommendation.LOW,
             help=_('Specify the character encoding of the output document. ' \
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/cli.py b/src/calibre/library/cli.py
index 291fc83205..8823df9e4d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/cli.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/cli.py
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ List the books available in the calibre database.
                           ' special field "all" can be used to select all fields.'
                           )%', '.join(sorted(fields)))
     parser.add_option('--sort-by', default=None,
-                      help=_('The field by which to sort the results.\nAvailable fields: %s\nDefault: %%default')%','.join(FIELDS))
+                      help=_('The field by which to sort the results.\nAvailable fields: %s\nDefault: %%default')%','.join(sorted(FIELDS)))
     parser.add_option('--ascending', default=False, action='store_true',
                       help=_('Sort results in ascending order'))
     parser.add_option('-s', '--search', default=None,
@@ -804,7 +804,7 @@ def add_custom_column_option_parser():
 Create a custom column. label is the machine friendly name of the column. Should
 not contain spaces or colons. name is the human friendly name of the column.
 datatype is one of: {0}
-''').format(', '.join(CustomColumns.CUSTOM_DATA_TYPES)))
+''').format(', '.join(sorted(CustomColumns.CUSTOM_DATA_TYPES))))
 
     parser.add_option('--is-multiple', default=False, action='store_true',
                       help=_('This column stores tag like data (i.e. '
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/save_to_disk.py b/src/calibre/library/save_to_disk.py
index 858e4bf231..89fb42070c 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/save_to_disk.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/save_to_disk.py
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ def config(defaults=None):
                 'Default is "%(templ)s" which will save books into a per-author '
                 'subdirectory with filenames containing title and author. '
                 'Available controls are: {%(controls)s}')%dict(
-                    templ=DEFAULT_TEMPLATE, controls=', '.join(FORMAT_ARGS)))
+                    templ=DEFAULT_TEMPLATE, controls=', '.join(sorted(FORMAT_ARGS))))
     x('send_template', default=DEFAULT_SEND_TEMPLATE,
             help=_('The template to control the filename and directory structure of files '
                 'sent to the device. '