...
  $_ = 'the small print';

  if( /^\s*(\S+)\s+(\S+)\s+(.+\S)\s*$/ ) {
    sub1( 'replace into reference_code values (?,?,?)', $1, $2, $3 )
  }
 
 sub sub1 {
    my $p0 = shift;
    # try to comment this line out and get your lesson
    print "looks like a statement somewhere\n" if  $p0 =~ /\w+/;
    
    my ($p1, $p2, $p3) = @_;
    print "statement parameters: $p1, $p2, $p3\n";
 }
 ...

##</code><code>##

 ...
 sub1( 'replace into reference_code values (?,?,?)', "$1", "$2", "$3" )
 ...