perl -E' $h={foo=>{bar=>10000000000},baz=>{bar=>70000000},qux=>{bar=>20000000000}}; say "$_: $h->{$_}->{bar}" for sort { eval { say $h->{$b}->{bar}. " - ".$h->{$a}->{bar}." = ".($h->{$b}->{bar} - $h->{$a}->{bar}); $h->{$b}->{bar} - $h->{$a}->{bar} } } keys %$h; ' 10000000000 - 70000000 = 9930000000 20000000000 - 10000000000 = 10000000000 qux: 20000000000 foo: 10000000000 baz: 70000000 #### perl -E' $h={foo=>{bar=>10000000000000},baz=>{bar=>70000000},qux=>{bar=>20000000000000}}; say "$_: $h->{$_}->{bar}" for sort { eval { say $h->{$b}->{bar}. " - ".$h->{$a}->{bar}." = ".($h->{$b}->{bar} - $h->{$a}->{bar}); $h->{$b}->{bar} - $h->{$a}->{bar} } } keys %$h; ' 20000000000000 - 70000000 = 19999930000000 10000000000000 - 70000000 = 9999930000000 foo: 10000000000000 baz: 70000000 qux: 20000000000000