#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my @database = <DATA>;

my @sorted=sort{my $one=substr($a,rindex($a,'|'));
                my $two=substr($b,rindex($b,'|'));
                ($one <=> $two) } @database;


print @sorted;

__DATA__
a|b|c|10
d|e|f|100
g|h|i|2

##</code><code>##

Argument "|10\n" isn't numeric in ncmp at tmp.pl line 9, <DATA> chunk 3.
Argument "|100\n" isn't numeric in ncmp at tmp.pl line 9, <DATA> chunk 3.
Argument "|100\n" isn't numeric in ncmp at tmp.pl line 9, <DATA> chunk 3.
Argument "|2\n" isn't numeric in ncmp at tmp.pl line 9, <DATA> chunk 3.
a|b|c|10
d|e|f|100
g|h|i|2

##</code><code>##

my @sorted = map $_->[1],
             sort { $a->[0] <=> $b->[0] }
             map [ substr($_,rindex($_,'|')+1), $_ ],
             @database;

##</code><code>##

my $width = 10;  # must be at least as big as the longest field being compared
my @sorted = map substr($_, index($_, '|')+1),
             sort
             map sprintf("%0${width}d|%s", substr($_,rindex($_,'|')+1), $_),
             @database;