#!/usr/bin/perl

@table = qw{
   4:a:400
   1:b:300
   3:c:200
   2:d:100
};

print "Original table...\n\n";
foreach (@table) { print "$_\n"; } print "\n";

$, = "\n";

print "Sorted table...\n\n";
print sort { (split ":", $a)[0] <=> (split ":", $b)[0] } @table;
print "\n";

##</code><code>##

print { (split ":", $a)[0] <=> (split ":", $b)[0] }