A few functions take an expression in curlies as their first argument:

map    ( { ... } ... )
grep   ( { ... } ... )
print  ( { ... } ... )
exec   ( { ... } ... )
system ( { ... } ... )
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In print's case,

• The expression in the curlies must result in the file handle to which print writes data.
• In a few special circumstances (including a plain scalar), the curlies around the expression can be omitted.
• The entire expression can be omitted in which case the data will be sent to the previously selected handle (normally STDOUT).

In other words,

print $write_fh "$database_query";
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is a shortcut for

print { $write_fh } "$database_query";
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