$ perl -C -E 'my @x = ("\x{c5}de:Y", "Abc:X", "Afg:Z"); say for sort @x' Abc:X Afg:Z Åde:Y $ perl -MUnicode::Collate -C -E 'my @x = ("\x{c5}de:Y", "Abc:X", "Afg:Z"); say for Unicode::Collate->new->sort(@x)' Abc:X Åde:Y Afg:Z