Easiest way is set up and ODBC driver to connect to the mysql database. VBA lets you query ODBC so you can program in the queries and bypass the perl script.

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If there are functions in the perl script you can not do in VBA you could install Active State Perl on the Windows Machine and use perl to via ODBC to connect to the Linux Box, process the data and use Win32::OLE to control Excel, or to use Excel::Template moduels to create the data structure. It all really depends on what you are doing with the data.

I think the description you have your best bet would be to use the mySQL ODBC drivers and use straight vba.

I feel sick from uttering those words.