The usual idiom for this is to use the short circuiting provided by ||.

@data_sorted_by_three_fields = sort { 
    $a->[2] <=> $b->[2]
 || $a->[0] <=> $b->[0] 
 || $a->[4] <=> $b->[4]
} @data;
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-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";