my @a = qw(fred bob john peter); my @b = ( 2, 1, 4, 3 ); my @a_sorted = @b_sorted = (); push( @{ ($|-- ? \@b_sorted : \@a_sorted ) }, $_ ) for map { @$_ } sort { $a->[1] <=> $b->[1] } map { [ $a[$_], $b[$_] ] } (0 .. $#b); print " $a_sorted[$_] => $b_sorted[$_] \n" for ( 0 .. $#b_sorted );