my @list = ('2005-12-01', '2005-11-02', '2005-12-07'); @list = sort @list; print join "\n", @list; #### @list = reverse sort @list; #### use strict; use warnings; my @sort = ('05-11-2006', '01-01-2005', '04-12-2005', '22-03-2005'); @sort = map { join '-', reverse split /-/ } sort map { join '-', reverse split /-/ } @sort; print join "\n", @sort;