c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -e "use Data::Dump qw(dd); ;; my @sorted = sort { dd $a, $b; $a cmp $b; } (qw(d a c e b), undef); dd \@sorted; " ("d", "a") ("c", "e") ("b", undef) Use of uninitialized value in string comparison (cmp) at -e line 1. ("a", "c") ("c", "d") ("d", "e") ("a", undef) Use of uninitialized value in string comparison (cmp) at -e line 1. ("a", "b") ("c", "b") [undef, "a", "b", "c", "d", "e"]