Hi,

Thanks for that, it's put me on the correct track, however when I run it inside a perl script using Starwberry Perl

#!/usr/bin/perl
#use strict;
use warnings;

$str = "select Assigned, null, null, count(*) from wftask where Assign
+ed in ('15000847','20005966','20005965','20004711','15120173','150004
+37','15023846','15022744','15062553','15149541','15000245','15000217'
+,'15000803','15000636','15000690','15000437','15001069','15119338','1
+5022744','20009455','20001463','15179195','20008500','20004675','1500
+0988','15179195','15119270') and RefClass is not null and RefKey is n
+ot null group by Assigned union select null, null, DistGroup, count(*
+) from wftask where DistGroup in ('SLT','Budget Signatory/310','Budge
+t Signatory/544','Budget Signatory/539','Budget Signatory/518','Budge
+t Signatory/321','Budget Signatory/543','Budget Signatory/338','Budge
+t Signatory/513','Budget Signatory/6','Budget Signatory/359','Budget 
+Signatory/358','Budget Signatory/530','Budget Signatory/300','Budget 
+Signatory/550','Budget Signatory/490','Budget Signatory/491','Budget 
+Signatory/376','Budget Signatory/377','Budget Signatory/401','Budget 
+Signatory/178','Budget Signatory/18','Budget Signatory/236','Budget S
+ignatory/40','Budget Signatory/246','Budget Signatory/507','Budget Si
+gnatory/475','Budget Signatory/464','Budget Signatory/459','Budget Si
+gnatory/18','Budget Signatory/310','Budget Signatory/544','Budget Sig
+natory/539','Budget Signatory/518','Budget Signatory/321','Budget Sig
+natory/543','Budget Signatory/338','Budget Signatory/513','Budget Sig
+natory/6','Budget Signatory/359','Budget Signatory/358','Budget Signa
+tory/530','Budget Signatory/300','Budget Signatory/550','Budget Signa
+tory/490','Budget Signatory/491','Budget Signatory/376','Budget Signa
+tory/377','Budget Signatory/401','Budget Signatory/178','Budget Signa
+tory/18','Budget Signatory/236','Budget Signatory/40','Budget Signato
+ry/246','Budget Signatory/507','Budget Signatory/475','Budget Signato
+ry/464','Budget Signatory/459','North Long Term Allocation','North Lo
+ng Term Approvals','North Long Term Review','North Long Term Safeguar
+ding','Placement Review','RAS Surgery','SLT Awaiting Allocation','SLT
+ Duty','SLT Duty Senior','SLT OT Equipment','SLT Pending','SLT Review
+','SLT Single Service Reviews','KT26099','Budget Signatory/18') and R
+efClass is not null and RefKey is not null group by DistGroup union s
+elect null, DistDept, null, count(*) from wftask where DistDept in ('
+D3347') and RefClass is not null and RefKey is not null group by Dist
+Dept";
$str =~ s/(\s*'[^']*+?')//g;
print $str
[download]

I get the message Nested quantifiers in regex; marked by <-- HERE in m/(\s*'^'*+? <-- HERE ')/ at C:\Perl\Perl_tests\SQLTest.pl line 6.

When I run it on the command line it works fine. As I have said in a another reply, I only started to use perl on Monday please excuse my ignorance.

Thanks