my $COLMAXITEM = 3;

my $idx = 0;
my @rows = ();
my $maxcount = scalar @item - 1;
while(my $it = $sth->fetchrow_hashref)
{
  push @cols, {IMAGES_PATH => $images_path, IMAGESRC=> $it->{code}};
  if(scalar @cols == $COLMAXITEM or $idx+1 == $maxcount)
  {
     push @rows, {COLS => [@cols]};
     @cols = ();
  }
  $idx++;
}