use strict; my @array; while(){ chomp; my @arr = split(',',$_); push (@array,\@arr); } @array = sort{$a->[1] cmp $b->[1]}@array; foreach (@array){ print "@$_ \n"; } __DATA__ miki,maus,kiki sis,miki,misi nick,pick,flick amico,aco,taco