"Is there any way to force DBI to verify in perpare_cached that the statment handle is still valid and if not re-prepare it?"
You could write a subroutine that re-prepares the handle. That is:

$dbh->execute() || try_again();
[download]

From the try_again() function, you could reexecute your statement after running some checks and return the results.

"Would doing so void the performance gains I get from using prepare_cached?"
Not if there is going to be some extended period of time where the query (data from the query) will be reused, IMO.
In all, a lot of what you're worried about is standard error checking. Whether using cached queries or not, you should always check your prepare and/or execute statements. If you are only worried about catching a certain error or a list of errors, you can pass $DBI::errstr and do some parsing to decide whether or not you want to handle the error (e.g re-prepare your statement), die, or continue.
HTH,
Chris
Update: Per runrig's comment, I changed the try_again() to go after the execute. I read to fast and didn't realize the fail was occurring on the execute. This will work (I use it).
Either way, I like the other ideas better (from leriksen and dragonchild), and suggest using those...as I will now start doing!

---

---

• Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
• Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:

  <code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>

• Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
• Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.