#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

#-- Use modules
use DBD::Oracle;
use DBI;


#-- Define local constants
use constant TRUE      => 1;
use constant FALSE     => 0;

use constant ORAUSER   => 'my_ora_user';
use constant ORAPASS   => 'secret_password';
use constant ORATNS    => 'ora_db_tns_name';


#-- Define local variables
my $gDBHandle;
my $gSQLCmd;
my $gSQLHandle;

my @gFields;


#-- Initialize local variables
$gSQLCmd = 'SELECT  column_name,     ' .
           '        nullable,        ' .
           '        data_type,       ' .
           '        data_length      ' .
           '   FROM dba_tab_columns  ' .
           '   WHERE owner = ?       ' .
           '     AND table_name = ?  ' .
           '   ORDER BY column_id    ';


#-- Connect to the database
$gDBHandle = DBI->connect
  (
    'dbi:Oracle:' . ORATNS, ORAUSER, ORAPASS,
    {
      AutoCommit  => FALSE,
      PrintError  => FALSE,
      RaiseError  => FALSE,
    }
  ) || die 'Could not connect to Oracle ['.$DBI::errstr.' - '.$DBI::er
+r.']';



#-- Get the data
$gSQLHandle = $gDBHandle->prepare($gSQLCmd) 
  || die 'Error with SQL statement ['.$DBI::errstr.' - '.$DBI::err.']'
+;

$gSQLHandle->execute('SYS','DBA_TABLES') 
  || die 'Error with SQL statement ['.$DBI::errstr.' - '.$DBI::err.']'
+;

while (@gFields = $gSQLHandle->fetchrow_array)
{
  print $gFields[0],"\t",$gFields[1],"\t",$gFields[2],"\t",$gFields[3]
+,"\n";
}


#-- Close the database connection
$gDBHandle->disconnect();


#-- Exit
exit;


#-- End of Example
[download]

use DBI;

...

my $dbh = DBI->connect($dsn, $usr, $pwd, \%attr);
my $stm = 'SELECT <something> FROM <something><etc>';
my $sth = $dbh->prepare($stm);
$sth->execute;
while (my $row_of_data = $sth->fetchrow_arrayref) {
     ...process data, ie, append each row to variable...
}

...

__END__
[download]

A couple of notes here. The \%attr is an optional arg to connect, but using {AutoCommit => 1, RaiseError =>1} is recommended by Bunce et al in "Programming the Perl DBI" for convenience and safety. You WILL have to consult DBD::Oracle for how to fill in the $dsn arg. The meat of the script is really the contents of the $stm variable, and you will have to learn enough SQL to do what you want to do, no way around it. Finally, fetchrow_arrayref is used here because I don't know how many fields you are returning...fetchrow_array returns an array of results, whereas the former is faster for huge returns because it's merely passing around a reference to that array. This of course means you have to use the usual dereferencing semantics to get at the guts of the results.

------
We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.

Please remember that I'm crufty and crochety. All opinions are purely mine and all code is untested, unless otherwise specified.