It sounds like all you need is a minor tweak to Tanktalus's code then: 
#! /usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my @sortable;
my $inAddrRange=0;
while ( <DATA> ) {
    # are we starting an <address> range?
    $inAddrRange=1 if /<address>/;
    # are we ending a range with </address>?
    $inAddrRange=0 if m{</address>};
    # are we in the ref's AND in an addr range?
    if ($inAddrRange && /^\<ref/)
    {
        # keep track of it, but don't print it out yet.
        push @sortable, $_;
        next;
    }
    
    # else, are we done ref's?
    if (@sortable)
    {
        print for sort @sortable;
        # done with them, get rid of 'em.
        @sortable = ();
    }

    # this line can be printed out at this point.
    print;
}


__DATA__
[ same as yours, so I'm not repeating it ]

[download]
I haven't tested this, but I think it'll do what you want...

Mike

In reply to Re^3: difficulty in sorting by RMGir
in thread difficulty in sorting by texuser74

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.