my @arr = ('foo','bar','qux','foo1','bar1','qux1'); my $hash = { '4-5' => '0.750', '0-4' => '0.167', '0-2' => '0.600', '2-3' => '0.200', '2-4' => '0.300', '0-3' => '0.300', '2-5' => '0.400', '1-2' => '0.550', '1-5' => '0.273', '3-4' => '0.300', '1-4' => '0.182', '0-1' => '0.917', '3-5' => '0.400', '0-5' => '0.250', '1-3' => '0.300' }; #### 'x-y' => 'VALUE' x and y represent the index of the element in @arr x and y are reversible so for example: '0-3' => '0.300', means that 'foo' and 'foo1' has value 0.300 OR 'foo1' and 'foo' has value 0.300 #### foreach my $z (0 .. ($#arr-1)) { my @arr_sorted = sort{???} @arr; }