my @elements = map { join "\0", padded($_), $_ } @original;
@elements = sort { $a cmp $b } @elements;
my @sorted = map { ( split /\0/, $_ )[1] } @elements;

##</code><code>##

my @elements = map { ( split /\0/, $_ )[1] }
               sort { $a cmp $b }
               map { join "\0", padded($_), $_ }
               @original;