use strict; my @list_o_num = qw( 1 22 44 55 63 2 1 2 4 54 8 7 9 2 9 ); my @sorted_list_o_num = sort { $b <=> $a } @list_o_num; my( $num_1, $num_2, $num_3 ) = @sorted_list_o_num;