If it's the same table, you can do something like this:

update table_name
   set destination_column = "A" + source_column
 where some_condition
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Michael

I have tried several variations on a theme including:

my $sthG = $dbh->prepare("INSERT into ICD_9_Disease_Types (ICD_9_code)
+ SELECT CONCAT('A', select ICD_9 from ICD_9 where ICD_9 > 0);") or di
+e "Couldn't prepare query: ".$dbh->errstr;
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I am transferring between two different tables.

Please go read the Transact-SQL manual.

I just showed you above that you concatenate strings in SQL using the '+' operator:  select "A" + ICD_9 ...

You are at a point where you don't yet understand SQL - I strongly suggest that until you understand SQL you leave perl and DBI out of it, and write the queries that you want to execute in a text editor and run them using isql.exe or some other tool that connects directly to the database. This will give you direct feedback on what you are doing.

Are you inserting a NEW row in the ICD_9_Disease_Types table, or are you updating an existing row?

From the code above I am guessing that you are updating an existing row, in which case you need to know the relationship between the two tables.

Michael

my $sql = "
UPDATE ICD_9_Disease_Types
SET ICD_9_code = CONCAT('A', ICD_9_code)
WHERE ICD_9 > 0";

my $sth = $dbh->prepare($sql) or $dbh->errstr();

my $rows_updated = $sth->execute();

print "We updated $rows_updated rows\n";
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