but how can I do this query in perl without it throwing up an error because I haven't declared @IDENTITY?

Read `perldoc perlsyn', `perldoc perlop'

use strict;
use warnings;
my @STUFF = 1..4;
print "HI there @STUFF",$/;
print 'HI there @STUFF',$/;
__END__
HI there 1 2 3 4
HI there @STUFF
[download]

update: `perldoc perlintro' I also changed perlquote to perlop ;)