#!/usr/bin/perl --

use strict;
use warnings;
use diagnostics;

my $foo = 1;
{# a new scope
   my $bar = 2;
}# end of new scope

my $baz = $bar; # $bar doesn't exist in this scope
__END__

Global symbol "$bar" requires explicit package name at test.pl line 12
+.
Execution of test.pl aborted due to compilation errors (#1)
    (F) You've said "use strict vars", which indicates that all variab
+les
    must either be lexically scoped (using "my"), declared beforehand 
+using
    "our", or explicitly qualified to say which package the global var
+iable
    is in (using "::").

Uncaught exception from user code:
        Global symbol "$bar" requires explicit package name at test.pl
+ line 12.
Execution of test.pl aborted due to compilation errors.
 at test.pl line 13
[download]

my $foo = 1;
my $bar;
{# a new scope
   $bar = 2;
}# end of new scope

my $baz = $bar;
[download]

Thanks so much. Using our $var did the trick and my script is functioning properly now. Here is the final version:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use DBI;
use DBD::mysql;
use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel;

# DBI configuration variables
my $platform = "mysql";
my $database = "smdb";
my $host = "Sinn";
my $port = "3306";
my $tablename = "site";
my $user = "user";
my $pw = "password";

#Data source name
my $dsn = "dbi:mysql:smdb:localhost:3306";

# PERL DBI connection handle
my $dbh = DBI->connect($dsn, $user, $pw)or die "Unable to connect: $DB
+I::errstr\n";

#xls file to be parsed
my $file = "SAMReport.xls";

#global variables
our $siteid;
our $name;
our $address;
our $city;
our $state;
our $zip;

my $workbook = Spreadsheet::ParseExcel::Workbook->Parse($file)or die "
+Unable to open $file\n";

#locate columns in the spreadsheet from which we want to extract data
foreach my $sheet (@{$workbook->{Worksheet}}) {
print "Sheet number $sheet\n";

    foreach my $col ($sheet->{MinCol} .. $sheet->{MaxCol}) {
        if ($sheet->{Cells}[0][$col]->{Val} eq "Site Number") {
            $siteid = $col;
            print "$siteid\n";
        }

        if ($sheet->{Cells}[0][$col]->{Val} eq "Site Name") {
            $name = $col;
            print "$name\n";
        }

        if ($sheet->{Cells}[0][$col]->{Val} eq "Address") {
            $address = $col;
            print "$address\n";
        }

        if ($sheet->{Cells}[0][$col]->{Val} eq "City") {
            $city = $col;
            print "$city\n";
        }

        if ($sheet->{Cells}[0][$col]->{Val} eq "State") {
            $state = $col;
            print "$state\n";
        }

        if ($sheet->{Cells}[0][$col]->{Val} eq "Zip Code") {
            $zip = $col;
            print "$zip\n";
        }
    }

#iterate through spreadsheet rows and extract site.siteid, site.name, 
+site.address, site.city, site.state, site.zip
foreach my $row ($sheet->{MinRow}+1 .. $sheet->{MaxRow}) {

    my $site_number = $sheet->{Cells}[$row][$siteid]->{Val};
    my $site_name = $sheet->{Cells}[$row][$name]->{Val};
    my $site_address = $sheet->{Cells}[$row][$address]->{Val};
    my $site_city = $sheet->{Cells}[$row][$city]->{Val};
    my $site_state = $sheet->{Cells}[$row][$state]->{Val};
    my $site_zip = $sheet->{Cells}[$row][$zip]->{Val};


    $dbh->do("insert into site                           (indate,sitei
+d,name,address,city,state,zip) 
    values
            (CURDATE(),\'$site_number\',\'$site_name\',\'$site_address
+\',\'$site_city',\'$site_state\',\'$site_zip\')");

    }
}
exit;
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