my $ref = &subroutine( $fee, $fie, $foo, $fum );
		
   $sth = $dbh->prepare ( "INSERT INTO mytable VALUES(?,?,?,?)" );
   $sth->execute ( @$ref[0], @$ref[1], @$ref[2], @$ref[3] ) ;
   
   sub subroutine {
      my @ref = @_;
      ...
      return (\@ref);
   }