use strict; use warnings; use Sort::Fields; use Data::Dumper; my @data = split /\n/, <<'__EOI__'; 10 0 0 6 4 1 0 0 5 3 __EOI__ print "Field 1 sort:\n", Dumper(fieldsort( ['1n'], @data)); print "Field 5 sort:\n", Dumper(fieldsort( ['5n'], @data)); __END__ Field 1 sort: $VAR1 = ' 1 0 0 5 3'; $VAR2 = '10 0 0 6 4'; Field 5 sort: $VAR1 = '10 0 0 6 4'; $VAR2 = ' 1 0 0 5 3';