my $field = "name";

sub numsort { $a->{$field} <=> $b->{$field} }
sub alphasort { $a->{$field} cmp $b->{$field} }

my @data = (
    { name => 'jim', age => 16 },
    { name => 'bob', age => 18 },
);

my $sortsub = $field eq "name" ? 'alphasort' : 'numsort';
my @sorted;
{
    no strict 'refs';
    @sorted = sort $sortsub @data;
}

##</code><code>##

sort $sortsub @data