You've already got some good comments on how to approach your problem.

Here's where you can really simplify your life: make sure the query does what you want from the SQL prompt. Once that's working, then you can use the query that produces the correct result in your Perl script. Don't try to solve two problems at once .. divide and conquer.

--t. alex

"Mud, mud, glorious mud. Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!" --Michael Flanders and Donald Swann