It seems to me that you might be able to do a little glob magic. And it's really more of a clever-for-fun idea than a recommended coding technique. I can't test it, so it probably needs some adjustments, but the idea should be pretty clear. 
sub mysort {
      $hash{$a}{$orderby} <=> $hash{$b}{$orderby}
      or
      $hash{$a}{$orderby} cmp $hash{$b}{$orderby}
}

{
  local (*a, *b) = ($direction eq 'DESC') ? (\*b, \*a) : (\*a, \*b);
  foreach my $id (sort mysort keys %hash) {
    print "$id - $hash{$id}{$orderby}\n";
  }
}

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In reply to Re: sort direction by Roy Johnson
in thread sort direction by rsiedl

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