Storing and Retrieving Arrays

[Sean Carte]

I've asked for help on this topic before, but received no response. 
Is there a better way of doing this?

The following is a sample script:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# sql_arrays.pl

use strict;
use DBI;
use Fcntl;

my $uid = 'database';
my $db_name = 'test';
my $table = 'array_test1';
my $pass = '';
my $data_source = "dbi:Pg:dbname=$db_name";

my ($dbh, $rv, $str, $cursor);
my @dwarves = qw(Happy Grumpy Dopey Doc);

my $trace_level = 0;
DBI->trace($trace_level);

$dbh = DBI->connect( $data_source, $uid, $pass, {
        PrintError => 0,
        RaiseError => 0,
        AutoCommit => 0
     });
unless ( defined($dbh) ) { warn_and_exit("DBI->connect failed: 
$DBI::errstr\n"); }

$dbh->do( "CREATE TABLE $table( dwarves TEXT[] )" ) || die $dbh->errstr;
$dbh->commit || die $dbh->errstr;

$cursor = $dbh->prepare( qq{INSERT INTO $table (dwarves) VALUES (?)} )
                  || die $dbh->errstr;
$cursor->execute("{@dwarves}") || die $dbh->errstr;
$dbh->commit || die $dbh->errstr;
$dbh->disconnect;

$dbh = DBI->connect( $data_source, $uid, $pass, {
     PrintError => 0,
     AutoCommit => 0
});
unless ( defined($dbh) ) {
     warn_and_exit("DBI->connect failed: $DBI::errstr\n");
}
$cursor = $dbh->prepare( "SELECT dwarves FROM $table;" );
$rv = $cursor->execute;
unless ( defined($rv) ) {
     $str = $cursor->errstr;
     $dbh->disconnect;
     warn_and_exit("\$cursor->execute failed: $str\n");
}
@dwarves = $cursor->fetchrow_array;
$dbh->disconnect;

my $i = 0;
foreach (@dwarves) {
     print "dwarf $i: $_\n";
     $i++;
}
exit 1;
__END__

What I end up with is the former @dwarves array now a scalar at $dwarves[0].

Have I misunderstood the purpose of the array in SQL or am I just misusing it?
-- 
My brain hurts!
SeanC
                      Mediatek Training Institute
            26 Crart Ave., Berea, Durban, South Africa 
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                   <http://members.nbci.com/s_carte/>