my @sorted = map { $_->[0] } sort { $a->[1] <=> $b->[1] || $a->[2] <=> $b->[2] || $a->[3] <=> $b->[3] || $a->[4] <=> $b->[4] } map { [$_, split(/\./, (split /\s+/, $_)[1] ) ] } @sorted1; my @all_rows1 = map { [ split( /\s+/, $_ ) ] } @sorted; print Dumper ( @sorted );