use strict; use warnings; use Sort::Fields; use Data::Dumper; my @data = ( " 56 1752.eps", " 56 2613.eps", " 56 3469.eps", " 8 INPUT000", " 16 INPUT001", " 16 INPUT002", " 96 MTA.1.ps", " 96 MTA.6.ps", " 80 MTA.7.ps", " 32 head.eps", " 8 labs", " 0 lib", " 8 mkexe.bat", " 112 out", " 0 screenshots", "8720 trace.exe", " 16 trace.pl", " 8 tracehosts", "1160 trace.041409.exe", "1160 trace.orig.exe", ); # Initial spaces in column 1 don't sort the same as... my @sorted = fieldsort( ['1n'], @data); print STDERR "First sorted DUMP:\n", Dumper(\@sorted), "\n"; my @data2 = grep s/^/1 /, @data; # ...initial spaces in column 2! @sorted = fieldsort( ['2n'], @data2); print STDERR "Second sorted DUMP:\n", Dumper(\@sorted), "\n";