# load data into a list of hash-refs my @data = ( { Subject => 'ID12', Query => 'KBrH', start => 22400316, ... }, ... ); my @sorted = sort { $a->{Subject} cmp $b->{Subject} or $a->{start} <=> $b->{start} } @data; #### use Data::Sorting 'sort_array'; sort_array( @data, 'Subject', 'start' ); #### my $data = [ [ 'ID12', 'KBrH', '2e-26', 22400316, ... ], ... ]; use Data::Sorting 'sort_arrayref'; sort_arrayref( $data, 0, 3 ); #### use Data::Sorting 'sorted_array'; my @sorted = sorted_array( @data, 'Subject', 'start' );