$games{person} = "11::Game name::Game date"; foreach (sort keys %games) { my ($count, $rest) = $games{$_} =~ /^([^:]+)::(.*)/; print "$count$rest..."; } #### use strict; use warnings; use Data::Dumper; my %games; $games{person1} = "11::Game name::Game date"; $games{person2} = "12::Game name::Game date"; $games{person3} = "9::Game name::Game date"; # sort by score, and record sorted list of hash keys my @sorted = map { $_->[0] } sort { $b->[1] <=> $a->[1] } map { [ $_, (split /::/,$games{$_})[0] ] } keys %games; foreach (@sorted) { # my ($count, $rest) = $games{$_} =~ /^(\d+)::(.*)/; # I like thor's split with limit suggestion below, # certainly looks cleaner. my ($count, $rest) = split/::/,$games{$_},2; print "$_$count$rest...\n"; } #### ... print "$_->[1]$_->[2]...\n" for sort { int $b->[1] <=> int $a->[1] } map { [ $_, split /::/, $games{$_}, 2 ] } keys %games; ...