I've just figured it out

$sth=$dbh->prepare("@sqlcmd");
$sth->execute;
while (($data) = $sth->fetchrow) {
   if($data =~ /create/) { print "$data\n";  }
}
[download]

I've simplified the regex I really need to use to demonstrate what I was attempting to do.
I agree that for larger datasets the create view/bcp out is the way to go. Performance testing has revealed this to be the case.
Thanks for all the responses, this is a top class site