use DBI; my $pathname = qq|webdb.db.db3|; my $cnstr = qq|DBI:SQLite:dbname=$pathname|; my $filename = q|afile.txt|; open(H, qq|afile.txt|) or die $!; my @lines = ; close(H); my $IN = '('; $IN .= join ',', map { qq|\'$_\'|} grep {chomp} @lines; $IN = 'select webpage from webpages_data WHERE id in ' . $IN . ')'; print $IN; #produces : select webpage from webpages_data WHERE id in ('koko.htm','koko1.htm','koko2.htm','koko3.htm') #### select webpage from webpages_data, mySelectedStuff WHERE webpage.id = mySelectedStuff.id AND ... #### select webpage from webpages_data where webpage in (select id from mySelectedStuff WHERE ...)