my $dump = dumpf($data, sub { use List::Util qw/max/; my ($ctx, $obj) = @_; my %r; state %seen; if ('HASH' eq ref $obj and not $seen{$obj}++) { no warnings 'uninitialized'; # Unknown sort keys my $len = max map { length } keys $obj; # Keep results aligned my $sort_string = 'a' x max map { length } keys $obj; # Convert existing keys to ...aaaaa, ...aaaab, ...aaaac, etc., # so Data::Dump's lexical sort works. my %keymap = map { $sort_string++ => $_ } sort { $num{$a} <=> $num{$b} } keys $obj; $obj->{$_} = delete $obj->{$keymap{$_}} for keys %keymap; my $dump = Data::Dump::dump($obj); # Replace to get original keys back $dump =~ s/$_/sprintf "%-${len}s",$keymap{$_}/e for keys %keymap; $r{dump} = $dump; } return \%r; }); #### #!/usr/bin/env perl use 5.012; use warnings; use Data::Dump qw/dump dumpf/; # Sort numbers 'zero' through 'nine' my %num; @num{qw} = 1..9; my $data = { two => { qw }, one => 'first', three => 'third', unknown => 'unknown key', }; dumpf($data, sub { use List::Util qw/max/; my ($ctx, $obj) = @_; my %r; state %seen; if ('HASH' eq ref $obj and not $seen{$obj}++) { no warnings 'uninitialized'; # Unknown sort keys my $len = max map { length } keys $obj; # Keep results aligned my $sort_string = 'a' x max map { length } keys $obj; # Convert existing keys to ...aaaaa, ...aaaab, ...aaaac, etc., # so Data::Dump's lexical sort works. my %keymap = map { $sort_string++ => $_ } sort { $num{$a} <=> $num{$b} } keys $obj; $obj->{$_} = delete $obj->{$keymap{$_}} for keys %keymap; my $dump = Data::Dump::dump($obj); # Replace to get original keys back $dump =~ s/$_/sprintf "%-${len}s",$keymap{$_}/e for keys %keymap; $r{dump} = $dump; } return \%r; }); #### { unknown => "unknown key", one => "first", two => { one => "the", six => "inner", seven => "hash", eight => "works", nine => "too", }, three => "third", }