with sort.in

<SEP>
4
99
63
2
1
<SEP>
8
1
12
<SEP>
3
2
1
[download]

my code produces this now

<SEP>
1
2
4
63
99
<SEP>
1
8
12
<SEP>
1
2
3
[download]

before it also seemed to be sorting it correctly but when I turned on warnings and strict I saw the errors you where talking about:

Argument "\x{3c}\x{53}..." isn't numeric in sort at foo.pl line 8, <IN
+> line 7.
Argument "\x{3c}\x{53}..." isn't numeric in sort at foo.pl line 8, <IN
+> line 11.
Argument "\x{3c}\x{53}..." isn't numeric in sort at foo.pl line 14, <I
+N> line 14.
[download]

I appreciate the helpful critisim, thank you.