note MeowChow The answers given thus far all fail on numbers (such as 100 and 211) which generate two-digit numbers in their intermediate results. Here's a good test for this particular golf: <code> $| = 1; for (100..999) { next if /(.)\1\1/; print "$_ : ", k($_), $/; } </code> And here's a correct solution at <strike>74</strike> <strike>68</strike> <b>63</b> chars: <code> sub k { $_=sprintf"%03d",pop;/495/?0:1+k(-($_=join'',sort/./g)+reverse) } </code> <pre> <a href="/index.pl?node=MeowChow"> MeowChow </a> s aamecha.s a..a\u$&owag.print</pre> 89075 89075