Pre-build the split array @split = map { [ split ] } @names; 2) Do the comparison @sort = sort { $a->[1] cmp $b->[1] || $a->[0] cmp $b->[0] } @split; $a and $b contain elements of @split, which were references to arrays.   3) Join the data together @names = map { join ' ', @$_ } @sort; Join synopsis: join EXPR,LIST $_ is each of the references; @$_ turn them back into regular arrays.