# work around

my $column_list=foofile.txt
my $table_fieldname_list=`cat $column_list|xargs|sed -e 's/ /'"'"','"'"'/g'`;

print "see what it looks like: $table_fieldname_list\n";
$table_fieldname_list= "('" . $table_fieldname_list;
$table_fieldname_list = $table_fieldname_list . "')";
print "concatenatd table list $table_fieldname_list\n";

# ends up 
#('FIELD1','FIELD2','FIELDN
#  ')