use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(+{ unsorted => \@array });
@array = sort {
   $$a[0] <=> $$b[0] or 
   $$a[1] <=> $$b[1] or 
   $$a[2] <=> $$b[2]
} @array;
use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(+{ 
    sorted_on_first_three_elements => \@array });

##</code><code>##

use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(+{ unsorted => \@array });
@array = sort {
  for my $i (0 .. $#a) {
      if (not ($$a[$i] == $$b[$i])) {
          return $$a[$i] <=> $$b[$i];
      }
  }
  return 0;
} @array;
use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(+{ sorted => \@array });

##</code><code>##

  my @user = (
   # [ username, fullname, authlevel, { otherinfo } ],
   [ 'george', 'George Jetson', $AUTH_EMPLOYEE,
               { supervisor => 'spaceley', pet => 'astro', } ],
   [ 'astro', 'Astro', $AUTH_BASIC,
               { supervisor => 'george', } ],
   [ 'hhoyt', 'Herman Hoyt', $AUTH_PROFESSOR,
               { supervisor => 'amcclain', department => 'theology', } ],
   # and so on and so forth
  );