Programming the Perl DBI

dbish—The DBI Shell

The DBI Shell, or dbish , is a command-line tool that allows you to run arbitrary SQL statements and diagnostics against databases without needing to write a complete Perl program.

For example, let’s say we wanted to get a quick list of all the megaliths in Wiltshire. We could write a complete Perl program that connects to the database, prepares and executes the appropriate SQL statement, fetches the data back, formats it, and disconnects from the database.

With the DBI, this process is easy, but it’s a bit tedious if you just want some quick information.

This is where the dbish comes into play. dbish allows you to connect to a data source and type an SQL statement straight into it. dbish handles all the underlying connecting, preparing, and executing, and also gives you the results right away.