i'm sorry my right before bedtime half-idea didn't work. FWIW, Class::DBI doesn't work with DBD::CSV either. DBD::CSV doesn't like to have the table id prepended to the column spec in queries (SELECT table.col FROM table). i'm now the proud owner of a Class::DBI subclass that loads a DB via DBD::CSV into a DBD::SQLite DB so the regular Class::DBI methods work, then on DESTROY the SQLite DB is copied back over the DBD::CSV DB so i can have my simple flat file format cake and eat it with Class::DBI.