my $Query1 = "mysql -e \"SELECT count(id_) FROM jbpm_taskinstance WHERE isopen_ IS TRUE AND actorid_ IS NOT NULL\" DB1"; my $Query2 = "mysql -e \"SELECT count(id_) FROM jbpm_taskinstance WHERE create_>(SELECT DATE_ADD(NOW(), INTERVAL '-3' HOUR))\" DB1"; my @QXXXX = (\$Query1,\$Query2); foreach my $q (@QXXXX) { $out = qx(Dumper($q)); print $out . "\n"; }