To amplify what Corion said about SQL::Abstract—if you are headed down this road, you might want to jump straight to a DB ORM. DBIx::Class is, in my opinion, the best; it has a steep learning curve so it is an investment in your future and maybe overkill for one or two small projects. You can search for “Perl ORM” here and there to get a lot of information and opinions (including those who say ORMs for DBs are all garbage :P).