You want to change your sort to
@pretty=sort {
my @a = $a =~ /(\D+)(\d+)?/;
my @b = $b =~ /(\D+)(\d+)?/;
$a[0] cmp $b[0] ||
($a[1] || 0) <=> ($b[1] || 0)
} @not_so_pretty;
Right now, your regex will fail to provide anything in @a/@b if there aren't any numbers.
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