my %sort; for () { m!(\d+)(\D+)(\d+)(\D*)R(\d+)B?(\d*)\.(\w+)$!; $sort{$7}{$6}{"$1$2"}{$3}{$5}{$4} = $_; } for my $first (sort keys %sort) { for my $second (reverse keys %{$sort{$first}}) { for my $third (sort keys %{$sort{$first}{$second}}) { for my $fourth (sort keys %{$sort{$first}{$second}{$third}}) { for my $fifth (sort keys %{$sort{$first}{$second}{$third}{$fourth}}) { for my $sixth (sort keys %{$sort{$first}{$second}{$third}{$fourth}{$fifth}}) { print $sort{$first}{$second}{$third}{$fourth}{$fifth}{$sixth}; } } } } } } #### 18AD13XR0B3.ras 18DD13AR0B2.ras 5A344R2B15.ras 13B29AR0B1.ras 113A22R1.ras 113A29R0.ras 113A29AR0.ras 113B28R2.ras 5A32R0.ras 5A33R0.ras 5A34R0.ras 5A35R0.ras 5A35SR0.ras 18AD13XR0B3.vec 18DD12YR0B2.vec 18DD13AR0B2.vec 5A344R2B15.vec 113B29AR0B1.vec 113A22R1.vec 113A28R0.vec 113A28AR0.vec 113A28R1.vec 113A28R2.vec 113A28AR2.vec 113A29R1.vec 113A29AR2.vec 5A32R0.vec 5A33R0.vec 5A34R0.vec 5A35R0.vec