my (@less, @equal, @greater, @answer);

##</code><code>##

    unshift(@answer, @equal); # was @equals

##</code><code>##

My pivot is 5
My pivot is 3
My pivot is 6
answer: 9 6 5 4 3 1

##</code><code>##

  if ($_ < $pivot) {
    push(@less, $_);
  }
  if ($_ == $pivot) {
    push(@equal, $_);
  }
  # etc...