#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my @lines = ; my @sorted = map {$_->[0]} sort {$a->[1]<=>$b->[1]} map {[$_,/^(\d+)/]} @lines[2..$#lines]; print @sorted; __DATA__ COUNT Type Error Message ------------------------------ 3 pro bad message #1 99 dis bad message #2 209 pro bad message #3 44 dis bad message #4 19 dis Bad message #5