Perhaps I don't quite understand, but how is this different from something like this:

# sort a list of arrayrefs by index 2 of each member array
@sorted = sort { $a->[2]   <=> $b->[2]   } @arraylist;

# sort a list of hashrefs by key 'key' of each member hash
@sorted = sort { $a->{key} <=> $b->{key} } @hashlist;
[download]

Apologies if I'm just missing something...