The DBI::Format module in the DBI::Shell distribution allows you to output in a variety of formats. The templating modules like Template::Toolkit and HTML::Template can be easily used to output many formats. The DBD::AnyData module can convert from any DBI accessible table to HTML or CSV or XML or Fixed-Length or others. I'd recommend that you not reinvent the wheel on this one.

update - please retitle your node to reflect the subject matter of your question.