Sorry, I can't provide the full data due to that pesky confidentiality stuff, and I know that's not very helpful. Hopefully this will be just as good. Here is the same code tweaked a little to be more stand alone.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use utf8; use 5.022; use strict;

# Open the file for input, discard all the header lines, but stop on a
+nd save the column names in an array.
# Then read all the remaining lines in to an array and close the file.
my $filename = "test.txt";
my $fh;
open($fh, "<", $filename) or die "Cannot open \"$filename\" for input:
+ $!\n";
my $column_line = "";
$column_line = <$fh> while !($column_line =~ /Invoice ID/i);
chomp(my @columns = split /\t/, $column_line);
chomp(my @data_lines = <$fh>);
close $fh;

# Sort the data lines according to the "Company Name" field, and then 
+the "Invoice ID" field.
my ($company_name_index) = grep { $columns[$_] eq "Company Name" } (0.
+.$#columns);
my ($invoice_ID_index) = grep { $columns[$_] eq "Invoice ID" } (0..$#c
+olumns);
@data_lines = sort
{
    my($company_name_a, $invoice_ID_a) = (split /\t/, $a)[$company_nam
+e_index, $invoice_ID_index];
    my($company_name_b, $invoice_ID_b) = (split /\t/, $b)[$company_nam
+e_index, $invoice_ID_index];
    fc($company_name_a) cmp fc($company_name_b) or
    $invoice_ID_a <=> $invoice_ID_b
} @data_lines;

# Open the file for output, print the standard header to it, print the
+ now sorted data to it, then close the file.
open($fh, ">", $filename) or die "Cannot open \"$filename\" for output
+: $!\n";
print $fh "Replacement Header Text Here\n\n$column_line";
print $fh "$_\n" foreach @data_lines;

[download]

And when I run that with the exact original contents of the "test.txt" file as follows:

Original Header Text    
    
Invoice ID    Company Name
1    SEBASTIAN COMMUNICATIONS
2    MASQUE SOUND
3    SEALEVEL SYSTEMS
4    MASSTECH, INC
5    SE INTERNATIONAL
6    SOUTHEAST SERVO, LLC
7    SEALEVEL SYSTEMS, INC.
8    MASTERBILT

[download]

Then the resulting modified "test.txt" file is:

Replacement Header Text Here    
    
Invoice ID    Company Name
4    MASSTECH, INC
7    SEALEVEL SYSTEMS, INC.
6    SOUTHEAST SERVO, LLC
2    MASQUE SOUND
8    MASTERBILT
5    SE INTERNATIONAL
3    SEALEVEL SYSTEMS
1    SEBASTIAN COMMUNICATIONS

[download]

Does that help? Or rather, help you help me?

In reply to Re^2: Sorting an array of strings when some of the strings have commas in them? by perldigious
in thread Sorting an array of strings when some of the strings have commas in them? by perldigious

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.