use strict; # <- NOTE! my $dbh = DBI->connect(qw(DBI:vendor:database:host user pass), {RaiseError => 1}, ); my $strID = "foo"; my $sth = $dbh->prepare("UPDATE Images SET strID=? WHERE strID=?"); $sth->execute($strID, $strID); # ... #### my $NewStrID = "foo"; my $OldStrID = "bar"; my $sth = $dbh->prepare("UPDATE Images SET strID=? WHERE strID=?"); $sth->execute($NewStrID, $OldStrID); # ...