my @data = map { join '', @$_[0..3],'R',@$_[4..6],'.',$_->[7], "\n" } sort { $a->[7] cmp $b->[7] || $b->[6] <=> $a->[6] || $a->[0] <=> $b->[0] || $a->[1] cmp $b->[1] || $a->[2] <=> $b->[2] || $a->[4] <=> $b->[4] || # update: changed (see 1) $a->[3] cmp $b->[3] } map { [ /^(\d+)(\D+)(\d+)(\D*)R(\d+)(B?)(\d*)\.(\w+)$/ ] } ;