diff --git a/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/topo/cli/AbstractElementCommand.java b/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/topo/cli/AbstractElementCommand.java
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/topo/cli/AbstractElementCommand.java
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2016-present Open Networking Laboratory
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.onosproject.ui.impl.topo.cli;
+
+import org.onosproject.cli.AbstractShellCommand;
+import org.onosproject.ui.model.topo.UiElement;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+/**
+ * Base class for model cache CLI commands.
+ */
+abstract class AbstractElementCommand extends AbstractShellCommand {
+
+    /**
+     * Built in comparator for elements.
+     */
+    private static final Comparator<UiElement> ELEMENT_COMPARATOR =
+            (o1, o2) -> o1.idAsString().compareTo(o2.idAsString());
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the given elements in a list, sorted by string representation
+     * of the identifiers.
+     *
+     * @param elements the elements to sort
+     * @return the sorted elements
+     */
+    protected List<UiElement> sorted(Set<? extends UiElement> elements) {
+        List<UiElement> list = new ArrayList<>(elements);
+        Collections.sort(list, ELEMENT_COMPARATOR);
+        return list;
+    }
+}