%foo = ( 11 =>{ 4 => 'Four' }, 33 =>{ 1 => 'One' }, 2 =>{ 2 => 'Two' } ); my $ref_HoH = \%foo; for my $k ( sort { %{ $ref_HoH{$a} } <=> %{ $ref_HoH{$b} } } keys %$ref_HoH ) { ... } #### use strict; use warnings; my %foo = ( 11 => { '4'=>'Four', }, 33 => { '1'=>'One', }, 2 => { '2' => 'Two', }, ); my $ref_HoH = \%foo; for my $k ( sort { $a <=> $b } keys %$ref_HoH ) { print "$k\n"; } #### hf@flux[30] perl /tmp/testit 2 11 33