#!/usr/bin/perl

# http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=1176809

use strict;
use warnings;

print sort {$a =~ s/.*[^\d\n]//r <=> $b =~ s/.*[^\d\n]//r} <DATA>;

__DATA__
this_5_string_12
some_12_garbage_23
this_5_string_8
17
this_5_string_23
some_12_garbage_6
102
this_5_string_19
5
this_5_string_101

[download]

Outputs: 

5
some_12_garbage_6
this_5_string_8
this_5_string_12
17
this_5_string_19
some_12_garbage_23
this_5_string_23
this_5_string_101
102

[download]

Is this what you want as sort order?

In reply to Re: Sorting text-number values by tybalt89
in thread Sorting text-number values by merrymonk

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