[0] Perl> @toSort = split "\n", <<'END';
name=Document1.doc type=Word author=aAuthor
name=Document1.doc type=Excel author=bAuthor
name=Document1.doc type=Text author=cAuthor
name=Document1.doc type=Excel author=dAuthor
name=Document1.doc type=Word author=eAuthor
END
;;

Perl> print for map{ 
    $_->[0] 
} sort{ 
    $a->[1] cmp $b->[1] 
} map{ 
    [ $_, join'', m[type=(\S+)\s+author=(\S+)] ] 
} @toSort;;
name=Document1.doc type=Excel author=bAuthor
name=Document1.doc type=Excel author=dAuthor
name=Document1.doc type=Text author=cAuthor
name=Document1.doc type=Word author=aAuthor
name=Document1.doc type=Word author=eAuthor