<BR>$sth=$dbh->prepare(q{SELECT this FROM that WHERE <BR>foo=?});
  <BR>$sth->execute($findthis);
  <BR>($returnme) = $sth->fetchrow_array();
 
  but that doesn't handle strings that contain spaces. I've tried a nu
+mber of di
fferent ways of doing it to handle
  spaces... and all fail. I tried qq{}, taking it out of q{} like:
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I suspect the real reason the above doesn't work (assuming that is exactly the code) is that you have aparent HTML in the SQL. Also, I am curious about the leading <BR>'s in the code snippet.

select x from y where <BR>this=?
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is certainly going to cause oracle to complain.

if you can pass the same sql via DBI that you are using in SQL*Plus, you will be successful.

you are close...good luck