@split = map { [ split ] } @names; @sort = sort { $a->[1] cmp $b->[1] || $a->[0] cmp $b->[0] } @split; @sorted_names = map { join ' ', @$_ } @sort; We can chain together the steps: @sorted_names = map { join ' ', @$_ } sort { $a->[1] cmp $b->[1] || $a->[0] cmp $b->[0] } map { [ split ] } @names;