22.4. MySQL Perl API

The Perl DBI module provides a generic interface for database access. You can write a DBI script that works with many different database engines without change. To use DBI, you must install the DBI module, as well as a DataBase Driver (DBD) module for each type of server you want to access. For MySQL, this driver is the DBD::mysql module.

Perl DBI is the recommended Perl interface. It replaces an older interface called mysqlperl, which should be considered obsolete.

Installation instructions for Perl DBI support are given in Section 2.4.20, “Perl Installation Notes”.

DBI information is available at the command line, online, or in printed form:

Once you have the DBI and DBD::mysql modules installed, you can get information about them at the command line with the perldoc command:
```
shell> perldoc DBI
shell> perldoc DBI::FAQ
shell> perldoc DBD::mysql
```
You can also use pod2man, pod2html, and so forth to translate this information into other formats.
For online information about Perl DBI, visit the DBI Web site, http://dbi.perl.org/. That site hosts a general DBI mailing list. MySQL AB hosts a list specifically about DBD::mysql; see Section 1.7.1, “MySQL Mailing Lists”.
For printed information, the official DBI book is Programming the Perl DBI (Alligator Descartes and Tim Bunce, O'Reilly & Associates, 2000). Information about the book is available at the DBI Web site, http://dbi.perl.org/.
For information that focuses specifically on using DBI with MySQL, see MySQL and Perl for the Web (Paul DuBois, New Riders, 2001). This book's Web site is http://www.kitebird.com/mysql-perl/.