$sort[scalar @sort - 1] == $sort[-1]; #### ($a, $b) = ($b, $a); # swap the values of $a and $b #### #!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; use Data::Dumper; my %hash = (Matt => 24, Dana => 19, Eric => 28, Sara => 20, John => 17, Mike => 23,); print Dumper \%hash; my @sort = sort {$hash{$a} <=> $hash{$b}} keys %hash; ($hash{$sort[0]}, $hash{$sort[-1]}) = ($hash{$sort[-1]}, $hash{$sort[0]}); print Dumper \%hash;