use Data::Dumper; $Data::Dumper::Useqq = 1; my @data = map "\0" x $_, 0 .. 5; print Dumper [ sort @data ], [ sort map pack("a*N", $data[$_], $_), 0 .. $#data ]; #### $VAR1 = [ "", "\0", "\0\0", "\0\0\0", "\0\0\0\0", "\0\0\0\0\0" ]; $VAR2 = [ "\0\0\0\0", "\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\5", "\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\4", "\0\0\0\0\0\0\3", "\0\0\0\0\0\2", "\0\0\0\0\1" ];