package Sort; # my($a,$b); # <<-- can't do that in this package sub my_num_sort { my $list_ref = shift; # return as a list ref for efficiency return [sort { $b <=> $a } @$list_ref]; } package main; # my($a,$b); # <<-- you can do this in this package (no sorts) my @list = ( 10, 42, 66, 1, 81, 32 ); # pass and return as a list ref for efficiency my $sorted = Sort::my_num_sort(\@list); print "$_ " for @$sorted;