#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my @list= ; @list= @list[ map { unpack "N", substr($_,-4) } sort map { join "", ( $list[$_] =~ m[(\d+)/(\d+)/(\d+):([\d:]+)] )[2,1,0,3], pack "N", $_; } 0..$#list ]; print @list; __END__ G: CCCCC-01 :ADD : ORDER PROCESSED : *** OK ***:08/30/2003:14:24:58 G: CCCCC :MODIFY : ORDER PROCESSED : *** OK ***:08/28/2003:14:24:58 G: CCCC1 :ADD : ORDER PROCESSED : *** OK ***:08/29/2003:14:49:54