You need to send a list of things into the sort function. If you have a ref to an array, just de-reference that to get the the list of stuff. 
@$aref = sort @$aref;

[download]
Update: The way that a Schwartzian transform works more efficiently is that it pre-computes this stuff like: my $a_region = lc ($a->region_name); so that it doesn't have be redone again and again for each pair of things to be compared.

The Perl sort algorithm changes from release to release. Version 5.10 which I use now, uses merge sort instead of quick sort. In my benchmarking it is, in general, faster, much faster than previous versions. The net of this is that techniques like the Schwartzian transform don't bring as big a percentage decrease in sort time because there are fewer comparisons being done.

As a beginner, I would recommend keeping things simple. Don't knock yourself out to gain a 10-15% reduction in something that is usually so fast anyway that it doesn't matter. That's why I offered my sort solution.

Do not confuse brevity with execution efficiency and certainly not clarity! The "if" part of my code will run very quickly and could also be combined into a Schwartzian transform solution (the key part is the pre-computation of say lc($a).

In reply to Re^6: sorting by numbers then alphabetically by Marshall
in thread sorting by numbers then alphabetically by Anonymous Monk

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.