This is how I deal with user-defined sort orders, which I (personally) think is a little more readable. . .This is taken straight from production code. . .Plus, to add more sorts you only need to add them to the drop-down and the hash.

    my %sorts=(
           form=>'form_list.form_title',
           rform=>'form_list.form_title desc',
           name=>'stored_forms.client_name',
           rname=>'stored_forms.client_name desc',
           prepared=>'stored_forms.advocate_name',
           rprepared=>'stored_forms.advocate_name desc',
           date=>'stored_forms.created',
           rdate=>'stored_forms.created desc'
          );
    my $sort=$sorts{$q->param('sort')} || $sorts{'form'};
    
    my $forms=$dbh->prepare("select stored_forms.client_name, form_lis
+t.form_title, stored_forms.id, 
stored_forms.advocate_name,date_format(stored_forms.created,'%c/%e/%Y'
+) as save_date,
stored_forms.client_accountnum,form_list.form_location 
from form_list, stored_forms 
where form_list.form_type = stored_forms.form_type and 
stored_forms.client_accountnum like ? 
order by stored_forms.client_accountnum,".$sort);
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HTH

-Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from doubletalk.