Closures are compiled too. That is, whether you use gt or > (or whatever) is decided at compile time - there is no runtime dynamic there.

@list = qw/123 3.14 foo bar 42/;

$q = <>;
chomp $q;

$test = ($q eq "num") ? sub{ $a <=> $b } : sub{ $a cmp $b };

$\="\n";
print join ",", sort $test @list;
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