Is it hard to tell exactly what the problem is. Can you post a small example of the code? If you do so please wrap the code in code tags Writeup Formatting Tips. I'm going to guess that you need to escape that slash character. You can do that by putting a backslash in front of it.

There is a Select statement within a perl script that produces an error

As I said to you in CB you need to show us a sample of your code in order for us to properly diagnose your problem. Without seeing what you have tried and had fail the best anymonk can do for you is a S.W.A.G.

S.W.A.G. = Scientific Wild Assed Guess

$QS = q{
SELECT po.POId2, i.cwdItemNum, i.ItemColor, 
    i.size1, i.size2, i.size3, i.size4, i.size5, i.size6, i.size7,
    i.ItemDescription, i.ItemRetailCost, po.VendorNum, i.VenItemNum,
    i.itemCatCode, i.ItemLine, i.ItemR/E, i.ItemOurCost
    FROM tblPurchaseOrder po, tblPOItems i
    WHERE po.exportToDMMS=?
    AND i.itemPOID=po.POId2
    ORDER BY i.itemPOID, i.sortNum};
[download]

BazB added code tags

To properly format that, please wrap your code in code tags. If you don't you could end up here Worst Nodes. There is a subset of HTML that monks are allowed to use. You can read about that here. Writeup Formatting Tips.

You'll need to quote the column "i.ItemR/E" to get it to work. Like blue_cowdawg suggests, this is a SQL problem not a Perl one. If you cut the SQL code out and run it in isql or whatever SQL environment you use, you'll see that the dB Server doesn't understand the SQL. It can be difficult for a new Perl programmer to determine where the error is. Is it in the dB or is it in Perl? Please look at my earlier post and click in the link "Before asking a database related question". gmax has an excellent writeup about this. It will probably be a big help.

Good luck and please go back and wrap your code in code tags.

Your SQL looks wonderful. But what is the Perl error you are getting? What Perl code are you execting that is emitting an error?

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Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional Peter at Berghold dot Net
	Dog trainer, dog agility exhibitor, brewer of fine Belgian style ales. Happiness is a warm, tired, contented dog curled up at your side and a good Belgian ale in your chalice.