my @sorted =
    map  { $_->[1] }               # pick interesting data
    sort { $a->[0] <=> $b->[0] }   # sort numerically on first field
    map  { [ split /\|/, $_, 2 ] } # extract sortable field: $_->[0] is sortable,
                                   #                         $_->[1] is data
        <DATA>;