That's a fierce insert statement to reparse each time. With Oracle you might be lucky because it will find it in its library of recently parsed statements, but all the same...

You want to prepare this statement ahead of time, with something like the following:

my $sth = $db->prepare( qq{
INSERT INTO mf_forms (CLIENT,RECORD,CONTROL,CUSIP,FROMACCT,F_IND,TOACC
+T,T_IND,
FP,ORIGQTY,DIV,LTCG,STCG,SOCSEC,BKRNO,THIRDPARTYCD,USERID,EDATE,
ORIGAMT,CLOSEDIND,ADPSECNO,BRNCH,ACNT,TYPE,CHKDIGIT,PDATE,ACTLQTY,
ACTLAMT,CERTIND,REQST,RDATE,COMNTS,TRNFTYPE,FILLER1,ADR_L1,ADR_L2,ADR_
+L3,
ADR_L4,ADR_L5,ADR_L6,FILLER_B,CERTNO1,CERTSHRS1,CERTNO2,CERTSHRS2,
CERTNO3,CERTSHRS3,CERTNO4,CERTSHRS4,CERTNO5,CERTSHRS5,CERTNO6,CERTSHRS
+6
,CERTNO7,CERTSHRS7,CERTNO8,CERTSHRS8,CERTNO9,CERTSHRS9,CERTNO10,CERTSH
+RS10,FILLER_B
) VALUES (
?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,
?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,
?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,
?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,
?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,
?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,
?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)
}) or die "Cannot prepare statement: ${\$db->errstr}\n";
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I might note in passing that you had written VALUE, not VALUES, which will cause an SQL syntax error. In your loop, this prepared statement can then be called thusly:

$sth->execute($CLIENT,$RECORD,$CONTROL,$CUSIP,$FROMACCT,$F_IND,$TOACCT
+,$T_IND,
$FP,$ORIGQTY,$DIV,$LTCG,$STCG,$SOCSEC,$BKRNO,$THIRDPARTYCD,$USERID,$ED
+ATE,
$ORIGAMT,$CLOSEDIND,$ADPSECNO,$BRNCH,$ACNT,$TYPE,$CHKDIGIT,$PDATE,
$ACTLQTY,$ACTLAMT,$CERTIND,$REQST,$RDATE,$COMNTS,$TRNFTYPE,$FILLER1,$A
+DR_L1,$
ADR_L2,$ADR_L3,$ADR_L4,$ADR_L5,$ADR_L6,$FILLER_B,$CERTNO1,$CERTSHRS1,$
+CERTNO2,$CERT
SHRS2,$CERTNO3,$CERTSHRS3,$CERTNO4,$CERTSHRS4,$CERTNO5,$CERTSHRS5,$CER
+TNO6,$CERTSHR
S6,$CERTNO7,$CERTSHRS7,$CERTNO8,$CERTSHRS8,$CERTNO9,$CERTSHRS9,$CERTNO
+10,$CERTSHRS10,$FILLER_B)
  or die "Could not insert: ${\$sth->errstr}\n";
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You will note that it is a bit of a bear to create the INSERT statement, and to make sure that you have sufficient ?s (or placeholders) for your columns being inserted. Be lazy, and get Perl to do it for you:

my @columns = qw/
CLIENT RECORD CONTROL CUSIP FROMACCT F_IND TOACCT T_IND 
FP ORIGQTY DIV LTCG STCG SOCSEC BKRNO THIRDPARTYCD USERID EDATE 
ORIGAMT CLOSEDIND ADPSECNO BRNCH ACNT TYPE CHKDIGIT PDATE ACTLQTY 
ACTLAMT CERTIND REQST RDATE COMNTS TRNFTYPE FILLER1 ADR_L1 ADR_L2 ADR_
+L3 
ADR_L4 ADR_L5 ADR_L6 FILLER_B CERTNO1 CERTSHRS1 CERTNO2 CERTSHRS2 
CERTNO3 CERTSHRS3 CERTNO4 CERTSHRS4 CERTNO5 CERTSHRS5 CERTNO6 CERTSHRS
+6
 CERTNO7 CERTSHRS7 CERTNO8 CERTSHRS8 CERTNO9 CERTSHRS9 CERTNO10 CERTSH
+RS10 FILLER_B
/;

my $sql = 'inset into mf_forms ('
    . join( ',', @columns )
    . ') values ('
    . join( ',', ('?') x @columns )
    . ')';
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This way you eliminate the need to keep the placeholders in sync. Binding the variables remains a problem, but there are ways around that too, although more complex to set in motion. Come to think of it, as you already have an array with the values, you are already set, just pass it as the parameter like this $sth->execute(@data). Easy peasy.

Uh, hang on, you split to @cols and refer to @data. That's not going to work, you know?

Some error messages would be nice, but one thing that springs to mind is that you don't declare any of your miriad of variables. strict will rightly yell at you for that. You also have lots of incorrectly closed quotes. It isn't very wise to post unobscured passwords on public forums either.

The following is an untested cleanup. Please do ask about anything you don't understand.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use DBI;

my @fields = qw(
    CLIENT      RECORD   CONTROL    CUSIP
    FROMACCT    F_IND    TOACCT     T_IND
    FP          ORIGQTY  DIV        LTCG
    STCG        SOCSEC   BKRNO      THIRDPARTYCD
    USERID      EDATE    ORIGAMT    CLOSEDIND
    ADPSECNO    BRNCH    ACNT       TYPE
    CHKDIGIT    PDATE    ACTLQTY    ACTLAMT
    CERTIND     REQST    RDATE      COMNTS
    TRNFTYPE    FILLER1  ADR_L1     ADR_L2
    ADR_L3      ADR_L4   ADR_L5     ADR_L6
    FILLER_B    CERTNO1  CERTSHRS1  CERTNO2
    CERTSHRS2   CERTNO3  CERTSHRS3  CERTNO4
    CERTSHRS4   CERTNO5  CERTSHRS5  CERTNO6
    CERTSHRS6   CERTNO7  CERTSHRS7  CERTNO8
    CERTSHRS8   CERTNO9  CERTSHRS9  CERTNO10
    CERTSHRS10  FILLER_B
);

my $dbh = DBI->connect(
    "dbi:ODBC:INSTDev", "sa", "password",
    { RaiseError => 1, PrintError => 1, AutoCommit => 1 }
) or die "Unable to connect: $DBI::errstr\n";

@ARGV = ("/tf_out.txt");

my $sth = do {
    my $cols = join(',', @fields);
    my $placeholders = join(',', ('?') x @fields);
    $dbh->prepare("INSERT INTO mf_forms ($cols) VALUE ($placeholders)"
+;
};

while(<>) {
    chomp;
    my %infields;
    @infields{+FIELDS} = split /\t/, $_, -1;
    $sth->execute(@infields{+FIELDS});
}

$dbh->disconnect;
[download]

Makeshifts last the longest.

Can you explain to me what you are doing with my $placeholders = join(',', ('?') x @fields);

Well, given a list on the left hand side, x will produce an output list which consists of as many copies as you specify with the right hand side operand. The right side is evaluated in scalar context, and we're using an array there; the result is the number of elements in that array. So

('?') x @fields
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will produce a list which has exactly as many elements as @fields, where each element is a question mark. So given @fields = qw(foo bar baz) I have created a list like ('?', '?', '?')

Then I join them using a comma as a separator, giving me, in the previous example, '?,?,?'.

As explained in detail in the DBI documentation section on placeholders, I do that so I don't have to generate a new SQL statement over and over; instead, I generate a single one, where I let the driver fill in the values I supply to execute().

Makeshifts last the longest.

It looks like you are missing some " marks.. This is what your sql query should look like..

 my $sql = ("INSERT INTO mf_forms (CLIENT,RECORD,CONTROL,CUSIP,FROMACC
+T,F_IND,TOACCT,T_IND,".
                          "FP,ORIGQTY,DIV,LTCG,STCG,SOCSEC,BKRNO,THIRD
+PARTYCD,USERID,EDATE,".
                         "ORIGAMT,CLOSEDIND,ADPSECNO,BRNCH,ACNT,TYPE,C
+HKDIGIT,PDATE,ACTLQTY,".
                        "ACTLAMT,CERTIND,REQST,RDATE,COMNTS,TRNFTYPE,F
+ILLER1,ADR_L1,ADR_L2,ADR_L3,".
                       "ADR_L4,ADR_L5,ADR_L6,FILLER_B,CERTNO1,CERTSHRS
+1,CERTNO2,CERTSHRS2,CERTNO3,".
                          "CERTSHRS3,CERTNO4,CERTSHRS4,CERTNO5,CERTSHR
+S5,CERTNO6,CERTSHRS6,CERTNO7,CERTSHRS7,".
                         "CERTNO8,CERTSHRS8,CERTNO9,CERTSHRS9,CERTNO10
+,CERTSHRS10,FILLER_B) VALUES ('".
                       "$CLIENT,$RECORD,$CONTROL,$CUSIP,$FROMACCT,$F_I
+ND,$TOACCT,$T_IND,".
                        "$FP,$ORIGQTY,$DIV,$LTCG,$STCG,$SOCSEC,$BKRNO,
+$THIRDPARTYCD,$USERID,$EDATE,".
                        "$ORIGAMT,$CLOSEDIND,$ADPSECNO,$BRNCH,$ACNT,$T
+YPE,$CHKDIGIT,$PDATE,$ACTLQTY,".
                      "$ACTLAMT,$CERTIND,$REQST,$RDATE,$COMNTS,$TRNFTY
+PE,$FILLER1,$ADR_L1,$ADR_L2,$ADR_L3,".
                      "$ADR_L4,$ADR_L5,$ADR_L6,$FILLER_B,$CERTNO1,$CER
+TSHRS1,$CERTNO2,$CERTSHRS2,$CERTNO3,".
                      "$CERTSHRS3,$CERTNO4,$CERTSHRS4,$CERTNO5,$CERTSH
+RS5,$CERTNO6,$CERTSHRS6,$CERTNO7,$CERTSHRS7,".
                      "$CERTNO8,$CERTSHRS8,$CERTNO9,$CERTSHRS9,$CERTNO
+10,$CERTSHRS10,$FILLER_B)");
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And you need to declare all thos e variables.. put the worh my in fron of each var.. something like my $CLIENT = $data[0];

Update: Along with putting a my in front of all tha vars you will need to add my (@data); at the top of your code somewhere for all the elements you use in each of the my $CLIENT = $data[0]; lines.

I think it must be 'values' not 'value'

-----------------------------------
--the good, the bad and the physi--
-----------------------------------
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