#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my @unordered = ( '12 Corinthians 5:10', 'Hebrews 11:15', '1 Corinthians 13:23', '2 Corinthians 1:3', 'John 3:16', '1 Corinthians 12:10', '1 Corinthians 2:10', '1 Corinthians 2:10' ); my @ordered = map { $_->[0] } sort { $a->[1] cmp $b->[1] } map { [ $_, sprintf("%05d %-20s %04d %04d",/^\d/?():(99999), split(/[ :]/)) ] } @unordered; print join "\n", @ordered; exit;