my ($sql_var_hr);
$$sql_var_hr{col_name} = 'column_name';
my $sql = get_sql($sql_han, $sql_var_hr);


sub get_sql {
	my ($file_han, $vars) = @_; #vars is a hashref containing any switch variables for the select
	my ($iline, $sql);
	
	print "vars: $$vars{col_name}\n";
	
	while ($iline = <DATA>) {
		if ($iline =~ /^#/) {
			next;
		}
		else {	
			$sql = $sql.$iline;
		}
	}
	print "pre_eval: $sql\n";
	eval{$sql};
	print "post_eval: $sql\n";
	return $sql;
}

#the following are just attempts
__DATA__
select $vars{col_name} from schema.table
select $$vars{col_name} from schema.table
select ${$var{col_name}} from schema.table