Many many thanks to all who chimed in. Apologies my goal was not clear! My high level goal is to reproduce Windows Explorer's file sorting. The only solution that worked for me consistently was calling Win32::API which I preferred not to do...

Salva, you nailed it, I needed alphanumeric groups to sort unbroken, and your solution works perfectly. Thank you!

In reply to Re^2: Sort::Key::Natural sorting discrepancy by cr8josh
in thread Sort::Key::Natural sorting discrepancy by cr8josh

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