#!/usr/bin/perl 

use strict;
use warnings;

my @dates = (
    '01-30 22:10',
    '01-12 05:56',
    '01-24 01:42',
    '01-12 05:59',
    '01-31 01:33',
    '01-02 01:33',
);

@dates = sort @dates;    

for (@dates) {
       print $_, "\n";
}

#prints:
#01-02 01:33
#01-12 05:56
#01-12 05:59
#01-24 01:42
#01-30 22:10
#01-31 01:33
print "\n";

@dates = sort { my ($amonth,$aday,$ahour,$amin) = 
                   $a =~/(\d+)-(\d+)\s+(\d+):(\d+)/;
                my ($bmonth,$bday,$bhour,$bmin) = 
                   $b =~/(\d+)-(\d+)\s+(\d+):(\d+)/;
                         $amonth <=> $bmonth
                                 or
                          $bday <=> $aday
                                 or
                         $bhour <=> $ahour
                                 or
                         $bmin  <=> $amin
                }@dates;
 
 for (@dates) {
        print $_, "\n";
}

#prints:
#01-31 01:33
#01-30 22:10
#01-24 01:42
#01-12 05:59
#01-12 05:56
#01-02 01:33