use DBI; my $dbh=DBI->connect("dbi:SQLite:dbname=dbfile"); warn $dbh; print "can error: ", $dbh->can("error"),"\n"; print "UNIVERSAL::can((", UNIVERSAL::can($dbh,'error'),"\n"; eval {print $dbh->error('eeep');};warn $@ if $@; bless $dbh, "My::Special::DBI::db"; warn $dbh; print "can error: ", $dbh->can("error"),"\n"; print "UNIVERSAL::can((", UNIVERSAL::can($dbh,'error'),"\n"; eval {print $dbh->error('eeep');};warn $@ if $@; print "\n-----\n\n"; package My::Special::DBI::db; use base qw(DBI::db); sub error { my $dbh=shift; return $dbh->errstr(); } __END__ DBI::db=HASH(0x19b7f1c) at dbi.dbd.error.subclass.pl line 3. can error: UNIVERSAL::can(( Can't locate object method "error" via package "DBI::db" at dbi.dbd.error.subclass.pl line 6. My::Special::DBI::db=HASH(0x19b7f1c) at dbi.dbd.error.subclass.pl line 8. can error: UNIVERSAL::can((CODE(0x19978e4) -----