Yep.

The sort function can take a subroutine that does the comparison. In this case, a Schwartzian Transform can be really useful.

@names = map { $_->[0] }
             sort { $a->[2] cmp $b->[2] } # index 2 for last name, 1 f
+or first
                 map { [$_, split(/\|/, $_)] } @names;
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This turns each element of @names into a reference to an array containing the original item plus its two components, sorts that by the appropriate element of those arrays, then extracts the original item.