#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my $column_number =3; my $prev = ""; my @input_lines = ; #slurps DATA in all at once @input_lines = sort {my ($a_col) = (split(/\s+/,$a))[$column_number]; my ($b_col) = (split(/\s+/,$b))[$column_number]; $a_col cmp $b_col }@input_lines; foreach (@input_lines) { print unless $_ eq $prev; $prev = $_; } __DATA__ FT9mWp d4fgMB gvZRJU XRRu0N X 4ewejk pFnjd4 ie0hZF pPipQJ A 4ewejk 4sqprx ie0hZF cqtexi 3 Fo1OKn qhZPvb qWZPrt ruBObs 2