use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my $counter = 3;

%hash = (
	a1_2 => 0.556,
	a1_3 => 0.345,
	a2_1 => 0.556,
	a2_3 => 0.125,
	a3_1 => 0.345,
	a3_2 => 0.125,
);

print Data::Dumper->Dumpxs([\%hash], [q{*hash}]);

for (1 .. $counter) {
	my @holder = ();
	my $outer = $_;
	
	for (1 .. $counter) {
		
		my $inner = $_;
		
		if ($outer == $inner) {
			
			next;
			
		} else {
			
			my $tracker = "a$outer\_$inner";

			foreach $key (keys %hash) {
				my $value = $hash{$key};
				if ($key eq $tracker) {
					print "$tracker : $key : $value\n";
					
					push @holder, $value;
					
				}
			}
		}
	}
	@holder_sorted = sort { $a <=> $b } @holder;
	print "@holder_sorted\n"; 
		# this works to sort the values, but
		# how do you sort the values while keeping track of the keys?
}