I sort hash keys all the time. And IP sorting is easy when you include leading zeroes as you just did, but most IP's I see in log files are without leading zeroes, so ordering them would result in

1.2.3.4
10.2.3.4
104.2.3.4
11.2.3.4
2.2.3.4
23.2.108.4
23.2.3.4
23.2.30.4
23.2.4.4
[download]

and IMHO that sucks. Using packed keys sorting is always correct. If it is faster? No idea, Icould bench that, but I expect it to be marginal

Side note: I *always* sort hash keys in tests, as order is randow