sort SUBNAME LIST sort BLOCK LIST sort LIST In list context, this sorts the LIST and returns the sorted list value. In scalar context, the behaviour of "sort()" is undefined. If SUBNAME and BLOCK are omitted, "sort"s in standard string comparison order. Otherwise, SUBNAME or BLOCK provides a subroutine that returns an integer less than, equal to, or greater than 0, depending on how the elements of the list are to be ordered. (The "<=>" and "cmp" operators are extremely useful in such routines.) SUBNAME should be the bareword name of a subroutine or a simple scalar variable (unsubscripted) containing either a subroutine name or a reference to a subroutine. BLOCK is just an anonymous, in-line subroutine. @names = sort @names; @numbers = sort { $a <=> $b } @numbers; sub hi2lo { $b <=> $a } @numbers = sort hi2lo @numbers; my $comparison = \&hi2lo; @numbers = sort $comparison @numbers; # Syntax error: my %comparisons = get_compare_functions(); @numbers = sort $comparisons{hi2lo} @numbers; # Not allowed ^^^^^^^ Beware when trying to sort the list returned from a function call, as the obvious syntax does not do that: @sorted = sort foo($x,$y); # same as: @sorted = sort foo $x,$y; # or as: my @list = ($x,$y); @sorted = sort foo @list; # Put just $x and $y into @sorted, # using foo() to compare the values. You must instead use something like: @sorted = sort( foo($x,$y) ); @sorted = sort { $a cmp $b } foo $x,$y; @sorted = sort +foo($x,$y); @sorted = sort &foo($x,$y); ...describe more esoteric details... ...don't include more examples until later... (so the examples of just syntax stand out)