foreach $homework (@homeworks)
{			
	$query = "SELECT PointValue,DueDate FROM Homework WHERE ClassID = \'$courseID\' AND SectionID = \'$sectionID\'  AND InstructorID = $instructorID AND HomeworkName = \'$homework\'";
	$statementHandle = $databaseHandle -> prepare($query);
	$statementHandle -> execute();
	while(@rowArray = $statementHandle -> fetchrow_array())
			{
				$homeworkHash{$homework} = [$rowArray[0],$rowArray[1]];
			}
}
# now the sorting
my @sorted = sort { $homeworkHash{$a}[1] cmp $homeworkHash{$b}[1] } keys %homeworkHash;

# I then pass the @sorted to a template under the name homeworks and in the template I use this to print out the hash.

[% FOREACH key IN homeworks %]
		<th valign="bottom" class="Homework"><span id="points">[% key %]</span><br>[% homework.$key.0 %]<br>[% homework.$key.1 %]</th>
		[% END %]