Wow, thanks for all the replies :o)

I am using the sub get_page_content to get variables in a database.

I took the advice of another monk and added a type to the table, so I am passing the "type" only, and it is getting all those variables and putting them in the hash. So It looks like this:

sub get_page_content {
    my $type = shift;

    my $dbh = DB_File::connect();
    $sth = $dbh->prepare (qq{ SELECT `name`,`value` FROM `page_variabl
+es` WHERE `type` = ? });
    $sth->execute($type);
    my %temp_vars; # WILL THIS KILL THE REST OF THE VALUES?
    while(my ($db_name,$db_content) = $sth->fetchrow_array()) {
        $temp_vars{$db_name} = $db_content;
    }
    $sth->finish();

return(%temp_vars);
}
[download]

Since I call this with %variables = get_page_content("name"); that would replace the whole hash, right? OR would it just append the new variables to this list? They will always be unique, as the column `name` has to be unique, or it will error out, when adding new records to the db.

thx,
Richard


BTW, I do have quite a few Perl books, but I have only read two of them("Perl Cookbook" and "Perl and Mysql for the Web"). I'm by no means a Perl guru. ;o)
When I have more time on my hands I'll devour the Others! :o)