my @a1A = qw/a b c d/; my @a1B = qw/p z e t i u/; my @a2A = qw/F l i n t s t o n e/; my @a2B = qw/f o o/; my @AoA = \(@a1A, @a1B, @a2A, @a2B); my @sorted = sort { @$a <=> @$b } @AoA;