in reply to Dropping the ampersand
sort treats the first parameter specially if it looks like a function name. It uses the function by the specified name as the compare function during sorting. You can use a unary-+ to disambiguate.
@livesys = sort +Con::liveones;
is the same
@livesys = sort { $a cmp $b } Con::liveones;
with no lost efficiency.
It's no better and no worse than
@livesys = sort &Con::liveones;
Both are better than
@livesys = sort @{[Con::liveones]};
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Seekers of Perl Wisdom