my $chk_arid = "SELECT MAX( arid ) FROM $table where flag = ?";
my ($arid) = sql_query( $chk_arid , 1 );

#                 or
 my $cmd = "select aid, code from authors where name =  ? ";
 ( $aid, $code ) = sql_query( $cmd, $name );

#                   or even

my $cmd_up = "UPDATE SET flag = 0 where flag = 1 and arid = ?";
sql_query( $cmd_up, $pub{arid} ) or die("Error update flag");

     my $cmd_ins = "INSERT INTO $table ( arid, catid, filename, title,
        aid, teaser, text, links, comment, changeby, newsid,
  keywords, description, flag) VALUES ( ?, ?, ?, ?, ?,
        ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)";
sql_query( $cmd_ins, $arid, $file, $pub{title}, $pub{aid},
  $pub{teaser}, $pub{text}, $pub{links}, $comment, $aid, 
  $pub{newsid}, $pub{keywords}, $pub{description}, 1 )
or die("Failed to insert new changed sql data :( \n");