#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;   

 my @x=qw/d b c e a f/; 
 my @y=qw/4 6 5 2 9 1/;
 
 my @sorted_idx=sort{$y[$a]<=>$y[$b]}0..$#y; 

print "\n
####################################
 4 highest valued letters:
####################################\n";

descending_order (reverse @sorted_idx[$#sorted_idx-3..$#sorted_idx]); 

 sub descending_order {my @indices=@_;
    print " $x[$_] " for @indices; 
  }   
exit;