Hello, I have a strange problem with stored queries like this $sql = qq/ SELECT city, country FROM countries WHERE city LIKE ? ORDER BY city /; $sthCity= $dbh->prepare($sql); my $tempCity = $dbh->quote("n%"); $sthCity->execute($tempCity); my $result = $sthCity->fetchall_arrayref; the query doesn't return any value. It works only if I remove the - >quote(). The following code actually works retuning all cities with their name n-something my $tempCity = "n%"; $sthCity->execute($tempCity); my $result = $sthCity->fetchall_arrayref; bu I'm a little bit worried to use a a WHERE statement without quoting the search pattern (input by user). Is it a problem or not? Thanks, Filippo