my @data = map { [$_, split(/\./, (split /\s+/, $_)[1])]} @all_rows; #### my @sorted = map{$_->[0]} sort {$a->[1] cmp $b->[1]} map { [$_, inet_aton($_->[1]) ]} @all_rows; print Dumper \@sorted; #### print Dumper \@sorted;