#!/usr/bin/perl

my @sorted =
    sort { my $cmp = $a cmp $b;
           $saw{ $a }++;
           $saw{ $b }++;
           print "a = $a, b = $b, cmp = $cmp, ",
                 "a is ",
                 $cmp < 0 ?
                   "smaller" : ( $cmp > 0 ? "bigger" : "equal" ),
                 " ",
                 $cmp ? "than" : "to", " b",
                 "\n";
           return $cmp
          }                  qw(you can watch what happens);

foreach ( sort keys %saw ) {
    print "$_ $saw{ $_ } times\n";
}