Databases
If you’ve got a database, Perl can work with it. This section describes
some of the common types of databases. We’ve already seen the DBI module briefly in Chapter 11.
Direct System Database Access
Perl can directly access some system databases, sometimes with the help of a module. These are databases like the Windows Registry (which holds machine-level settings), or the Unix password database (which lists which username corresponds to which number, and related information), as well as the domain-name database (which lets you translate an IP number into a machine name, and vice versa).
Flat-file Database Access
If you’d like to access your own flat-file databases from Perl, there are modules to help you with doing that (seemingly a new one every month or two, so any list here would be out-of-date).