my $sth = $dbh->prepare( "INSERT INTO data_profile (file) VALUES (?)"); for (@array) { $sth->execute($_); } #### # assume that @array contains qw(abc def ghi); my $query = 'INSERT INTO data_profile (file) VALUES '; $query .= join(',', map {'(?)'} @array); # now $query will be 'INSERT INTO data_profile (file) VALUES (?),(?),(?)' $dbh->do($query, @array);