sub sort_n { return map { $_->[0] } sort { $a->[1] cmp $b->[1] || $a->[2] <=> $b->[2] || $a->[3] cmp $b->[3] } map { [$_, func($_)] } @_; sub func { my @bits = split /([\d\.]+)/, $_[0]; return @bits[0,1], join '', @bits[2..$#bits] } } my @ary = qw( z1z z2a z2z a1a a2b a1.1a a2.1a a0.1a a0.01a b bbb b2b2b2b 2b2c a2bc2 ); print "This is what func() does for us\n"; $" = ', '; for (@ary) { my @a = func($_); print "@a\n" } print "\nHere is the sorted list\n"; print "$_\n" for sort_n(@ary); __DATA__ This is what func() does for z, 1, z z, 2, a z, 2, z a, 1, a a, 2, b a, 1.1, a a, 2.1, a a, 0.1, a a, 0.01, a b, , bbb, , b, 2, b2b2b , 2, b2c a, 2, bc2 Here is the sorted list 2b2c a0.01a a0.1a a1a a1.1a a2b a2bc2 a2.1a b b2b2b2b bbb z1z z2a z2z