When you interpolate an array in a double quoted string, the elements of the array are separated by the contents of the $" variable. The default value for this variable is a space, so your SQL statement becomes "select fornavn efternavn cpr adresse zip city telefon mobil g_afsluttet bemyndigelse_til tjenestested id pic from people..." which is invalid SQL.

To fix the problem, you can set $" to a comma, but whenever you change the value of a Perl special variable, you should localise the change like this:

{
  local $" = ',';

  my $row = $dbh->selectall_arrayref("select @selector from people whe
+re (fornavn like '%$search%') or (efternavn like '%$search%') or (cpr
+ LIKE '%$search%')",\ %attr);
}
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"The first rule of Perl club is you don't talk about Perl club."

One "questionable" (but fun) way of doing this is by modifying the global $" variable, which is the separator used when interpolating arrays into strings. Its default value is a single space, which explains the above situation.
Setting it to ',' yields code like this: (warning, untested)

my $sql;
{ 
  local $" = ',';  # localize $" for use in the next statement
  $sql = "select @selector from people where foo like '%bar%'"
}

my $row = $dbh->selectall_arrayref($sql) or die "SQL Error: $sql";
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-Blake

I'm interested to know why you think that changing $" is a "questionable" solution. It seems to me that it's situations like this that $" was invented for.

--
<http://www.dave.org.uk>

"The first rule of Perl club is you don't talk about Perl club."

I would say it "questionable" as well. (And I use it all the time. :-) Three reasons.
1. I try to avoid global variables as much as possible.
2. $" is line noise and accordingly easy to miss by a maintainer (who is most likely not at my level of perl).
3. Beginners are much more likely to set global variables than to localize them.
(4. $" screws up the syntax highlighting in many editors.)

Join() performs the same task in a much more maintainable way, so its not really needed. Also, if you think about it join is about the same or less in terms of usage.

local $"=','; my $s="@list";
my $s=join(',',@list);
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As i said though I use it in obfus, snippets and temporary debuging code all the time. But only cause I like to. :-)

Yves
--
You are not ready to use symrefs unless you already know why they are bad. -- tadmc (CLPM)

I always hesitate to tell anonymonks to go tinkering with global vars..... Its the case of "a little information can be dangerous." Once you understand the full implications, I think it is a fine solution, though.

-Blake

Now to your problem:

You have to join your column names like this:

my $row = $dbh->selectall_arrayref('select ' . 
join(',', @selector) . 
" from people where (fornavn like '%$search%') or (efternavn like '%$s
+earch%') or (cpr LIKE '%$search%')",\ %attr);
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Or, if you're not stuck on using just $dbh->selectall_arrayref and your database supports placeholders, couldn' you do this?


$sth = $dbh->prepare("SELECT " . '? ' x $#selector . "FROM people WHER
+E (fornavn LIKE '%$search%') or (eternavn LIKE '%$search%') or (cpr L
+IKE '%$search%'", \%attr); #dunno if you can do the \%attr part...
$sth->execute(@selector);
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And then you've got a statement handle to get your data from.. I don't know if it's more efficient, but it seems a bit more readable to me.

No, you can't. Placeholders are allowed in where clauses and as update values only.

Well, _some_ DBD's support them in the way you'd use them, but I wouldn't rely on that.

...._arrayref( "select ". join( ', ', @selector) . 
   " from people .... "
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