my @quarters = qw/none first second third fourth/;

sub termgrades {
    my ($period, $quarter) = @_;
    $sth = $dbh->prepare_cached(
            qq{SELECT *
               FROM $quarters[$quarter]quarter 
               WHERE userid = ? AND period = ? AND gradetype = ?}
            )
        or &error( "2",  "$userdata[0] $quarters[$quarter] quarter "
                   . "grades database search failed: $DBI::errstr" );

    $sth->execute( $userdata[0], $period, 2 )
        or &error( "2", "$userdata[0] quarter grades "
                        ." database search failed: $DBI::errstr" );
}