I'm going to go out on a limb and say that your sort is just fine - it's your map that's the problem. Instead of 
map { 
    if ( m/^(.+?)\((\d+)\)\s-\s\[(.+?)\].+?"(.*?)"\.$/ )
    {
        my ($disc_file,$page,$key,$val) = ($1,$2,$3,$4);
        [$_,$disc_file,$page,$key];
    }
}

[download]
Maybe try something like: 
map {
    m/^(.+?)\((\d+)\)\s-\s\[(.+?)\]/
        ? [$_,$1, $2, $3]
        : ()
}

[download]
The big thing is that you're doing unnecessary matches and variable creation/assignments. map is naturally more obfuscated than other operations. If you want to de-obfuscate it, consider changing to a multi-operation sequence.

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In reply to Re: Complex Sorting Optimization? by dragonchild
in thread Complex Sorting Optimization? by orbital

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