I want to sort data which has a letter or number of letters at the beginning of each value and then numbers.
I want to do this so that the number part increases by the number size.
Hopefully the example below explains what I mean.
The Perl code is 
use strict "vars";

my (@a, @b, $ja);

$a[1] = 'E1180';
$a[2] = 'D250';
$a[3] = 'A1180';
$a[4] = 'D130';
$a[5] = 'E855';
$a[6] = 'E975';
$a[7] = 'A130';
$a[8] = 'A250';
$a[9] = 'B1105';
$a[10] = 'B1225';
$a[11] = 'B2480';
$a[12] = 'C1180';
$a[13] = 'C1600';
$a[14] = 'D1180';


$b[1] = 'E1180';
$b[2] = 'D0250';
$b[3] = 'A1180';
$b[4] = 'D0130';
$b[5] = 'E0855';
$b[6] = 'E0975';
$b[7] = 'A0130';
$b[8] = 'A0250';
$b[9] = 'B1105';
$b[10] = 'B1225';
$b[11] = 'B2480';
$b[12] = 'C1180';
$b[13] = 'C1600';
$b[14] = 'D1180';

print "\ncmp sort of \@a\n";
foreach $ja (sort{$a cmp $b} @a) {
    print "$ja\n";
}

print "\ncmp sort of \@b\n";
foreach $ja (sort{$a cmp $b} @b) {
    print "$ja\n";
}

[download]
This code gives the following output.
cmp sort of @a

A1180
A130
A250
B1105
B1225
B2480
C1180
C1600
D1180
D130
D250
E1180
E855
E975

cmp sort of @b

A0130
A0250
A1180
B1105
B1225
B2480
C1180
C1600
D0130
D0250
D1180
E0855
E0975
E1180

[download]
Data in @a is sorted so that the number part is treated a letters. Therefore for the values starting with A, the order of the number part is 1180, 130, 250.
What I really want for these values is the order 130, 250, 1180.
I have kind of achieved this by adding a zero in front of numbers where there value is less than 1000. This is the data in @b
However, the data then becomes A0130, A0250, A1180 which is not ideal.
Is there a way of sorting the data in @a so that I get the order shown for @b but without adding the extra and unwanted zeros?

In reply to Data with Letter(s) & Number sort query by merrymonk

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