$ perl -ce '$no_days = "(TO_DAYS(dateadded)-TO_DAYS(Now())>=-$newdateadded)";' -e syntax OK #### $ perl -MO=Deparse,-p -e '$no_days = "(TO_DAYS(dateadded)-TO_DAYS(Now())>=-$newdateadded)";' ($no_days = "(TO_DAYS(dateadded)-TO_DAYS(Now())>=-$newdateadded)"); -e syntax OK #### $ perl -e ' $newdateadded = "NDA"; $no_days = "(TO_DAYS(dateadded)-TO_DAYS(Now())>=-$newdateadded)"; print $no_days; ' (TO_DAYS(dateadded)-TO_DAYS(Now())>=-NDA)