#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; my @data = grep $_, ; print sort RowSort @data; sub RowSort { my($aa) = $a =~ /\d+,(\d+)/; my($bb) = $b =~ /\d+,(\d+)/; $aa <=> $bb; } __DATA__ 1,64,1.4.5,1.4.6,44642850,44642850,0,27348,10028,59188,1488095,761904.64 1,128,1.4.5,1.4.6,25337850,25337850,0,19236,10276,28196,844595,864865.28 1,256,1.4.5,1.4.6,13489200,13489200,0,17792,11372,17832,449640,920862.72 1,512,1.4.5,1.4.6,6996270,6996270,0,18084,16744,19124,233209,955224.064 1,1024,1.4.5,1.4.6,3557880,3557880,0,31528,20488,35188,118596,971538.432 2,64,1.4.5,1.4.6,44642850,44642850,0,25828,9548,40128,1488095,761904.64 2,128,1.4.5,1.4.6,25337850,25337850,0,27936,10796,28696,844595,864865.28 2,256,1.4.5,1.4.6,13489200,13489200,0,12852,10692,13332,449640,920862.72 2,512,1.4.5,1.4.6,6996270,6996270,0,17184,15904,18844,233209,955224.064 2,1024,1.4.5,1.4.6,3557880,3557880,0,34068,17948,36628,118596,971538.432 #### The regular expression: (?-imsx:\d+,(\d+)) matches as follows: NODE EXPLANATION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (?-imsx: group, but do not capture (case-sensitive) (with ^ and $ matching normally) (with . not matching \n) (matching whitespace and # normally): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \d+ digits (0-9) (1 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- , ',' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ( group and capture to \1: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \d+ digits (0-9) (1 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of \1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ----------------------------------------------------------------------