#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

# an array: 0=name, 1=number, 2=city, 3=state, 4=zip
my @customers = (
        [ 'nye, bill','39','Somehere in Cali','Colombia','12345' ],
        [ 'simpson, homer','36','Springfield', 'OR', '23456' ],
        [ 'rubble, barney','31','Bedrock','cartoon location','33456' ]
);

# set to the array field you want
my $field = '0';

my @sorted = sort { $a->[$field] cmp $b->[$field] } @customers;

map { print $_->[$field] . "\n" } @sorted;

# OUTPUT

nye, bill
rubble, barney
simpson, homer