use strict; my $HoA_ref = {'GAT' => [2, ['ttt',-3,1],['ttc',-3,3],['ccc',-1,2]], 'AAA' => [13,['aaa',-1,2],['atg',-2,2]], 'TTT' => [11,['tta',-2,1],['atc',-3,3]] }; sub print_zHoA { my ($HoA) = shift; foreach my $mc (sort {$HoA->{$a}->[0] <=> $HoA->{$b}->[0]} keys %$HoA){ print "$mc $HoA->{$mc}->[0]:\n"; print join(',', map {$_->[0]} splice( @{$HoA->{$mc}}, 1)) . "\n"; } } print_zHoA($HoA_ref);