# sort numerically descending
    @articles = sort {$b <=> $a} @files;

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/env perl -l

use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dump;

my @unordered = (
    { id => 12, rownum => 1, rank => 27 },
    { id => 31, rownum => 3, rank => 72 },
    { id => 45, rownum => 5, rank => 54 },
);

my @ordered = sort { $b->{rank} <=> $a->{rank} } @unordered;

print 'Unordered:';
dd \@unordered;
print 'Ordered:';
dd \@ordered;

##</code><code>##

Unordered:
[
  { id => 12, rank => 27, rownum => 1 },
  { id => 31, rank => 72, rownum => 3 },
  { id => 45, rank => 54, rownum => 5 },
]

Ordered:
[
  { id => 31, rank => 72, rownum => 3 },
  { id => 45, rank => 54, rownum => 5 },
  { id => 12, rank => 27, rownum => 1 },
]