my $MISC_FILE_DIR = @ARGV ? shift : die usage();
# ...
# ...

##</code><code>##

die usage() if @ARGV < 5;
my ($MISC_FILE_DIR, $req, $inqfile, $sent, $status) = @ARGV;

##</code><code>##

while( my @row = $sth->fetchrow_array ) {
        print join( '|', map ( defined() ? $_ : 'NULL', @row )) ."\n";
}