in reply to Re^2: Argument isn't numeric in sort -- resolve or ignore?
in thread Argument isn't numeric in sort -- resolve or ignore?

In the OP's code. The return $a lines will return values like 'etc'. Sort expects -1, 0 or 1 as is returned by cmp and <=>.

Premature optimization is the root of all job security

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom