LinuxQuestions.org - starting on perl

In order to connect with a mySQL DB in perl, you're going to need to install the DBI/DBD modules.. they may come with newer installs of perl, but I don't know for certain. The INSTALL and README files in the module archives will tell you exactly what components you need to install..

The DBI package:
http://cpan.uwinnipeg.ca/dist/DBI

The DBD-mysql driver package:
http://cpan.uwinnipeg.ca/dist/DBD-mysql

I feel like there's one more thing that needs to be installed, but it's escaping me at the moment.. the README/INSTALL's for the DBI and DBD-mysql will tell you everything that you'll need installed.

As for perl, making a connection is pretty easy:

Code:

use DBI;



my($sqlDBName) = 'geography';

my($sqlDBUser) = 'Steve';

my($sqlDBpass) = 'getstuffed';



my($db) = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:$sqlDBName", $sqlDBUser, $sqlDBPass) or

  die "Error connecting to $sqlDBName: ", $DBI::errstr, "\n";

Then create your query string, prepare it, then execute it:

Code:

my($query) = "SELECT * from country";

my($call) = $db->prepare($query);

if(!defined($call)) {

  die "Prepare failed on query '$query'.\n",

      "Reason: ", $db->errstr, "\n";

}

else {

  if(!$call->execute()) {

  die "Execute failed on query '$query'.\n",

      "Reason: ", $db->errstr, "\n";

  }

}

Then, it's a matter of looping through the results, depending on whether you want to use an array or a hash.

You can take a look at here at the manpage of DBD-mysql for more examples and information about the connection.

Another question is, when you say beginner, does that mean in perl, with CGI's or what?