I want to be able to list the field names and their description (varchar, number, date, etc) using Perl DBI.

But I cant do it! Is there a way to do it?

This is what I am trying to do right now:

$dbh = Call our algorithm that connects us to the DB.
if (!$dbh) 
{
    print "Cannot connect to database: $DBI::errstr\n";
}
    
$sth = $dbh->prepare(q{desc userinfo});
$sth->execute();

$dbh->disconnect;
exit(1);
[download]

This is what I get:
DBD::Oracle::db prepare failed: ORA-00900: invalid SQL statement (DBD: error possibly near <*> indicator at char 1 in '<*>desc userinfo') at ./get-userinfo-fields.pl line 38. Can't call method "execute" on an undefined value at ./get-userinfo-fields.pl line 39.

Is there also a way in which I can get the field names in a SELECT clause? Is there a reserved word like, for example, if I wanted to search for all the tables in a DB, I would do "select table_name from all_tables"?

Thanks!
Robert