You may want to use array of arrays (AoA) to parse and store this file. For example, 
#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;

my @filter;

<>; # read one line from the file/stdin

while (<>) { # read other lines
 chomp; # remove "\n" from the end of the line
 push @filter,[(split /\t/,$_)]; # create an array of the line by spli
+tting it by <TAB>, make a reference of it and push the reference to t
+he @filter array
}

@filter = sort { $a->[4] <=> $b->[4] } @filter; # sort the array by 5t
+h element of embedded arrays

print Dumper \@filter;

[download]
(EDIT: add chomp)
Sorry if my advice was wrong.

In reply to Re: Read in a file containing the criteria for a program when it runs by aitap
in thread Read in a file containing the criteria for a program when it runs by dkhalfe

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