{ my %hash = ( 'Ask' => 1, 'Bob' => 1, 'Cat' => 1, 'amy' => 1, 'ben' => 1, 'can' => 1, ); print join "\n", sort case_sorter keys %hash; } sub case_sorter { my $first_a = substr $a, 0, 1; my $first_b = substr $b, 0, 1; if ( ($first_a eq uc($first_a)) && ($first_b eq uc($first_b)) ) { return $a cmp $b; } elsif ( $first_a eq uc($first_a) ) { return 1; } elsif ( $first_b eq uc($first_b) ) { return -1; } else { return $a cmp $b; } }