mysql> show columns in cmsParms;
+--------+-----------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field  | Type      | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+--------+-----------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| pKey   | char(100) | NO   | PRI | NULL    |       |
| pValue | text      | NO   |     | NULL    |       |
+--------+-----------+------+-----+---------+-------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)


##</code><code>##

my $rval = 'rval (' . $table . ')';
my $sth2 = $dbh->prepare("SHOW COLUMNS IN $table where Field=?")
    or die 'prepare failed';
$sth2->execute( $field )
    or die 'execute failed';
if ( $sth2->err )
    { $rval .= 'error: [' . $sth2->errmsg . ']'; }
else
    {
    $rval .= '(' . $sth2->rows . ')';
    my ($arr, @arr, %arr, $field);
    while ( $arr = $sth2->fetchrow_hashref )
        {
        foreach $field ( keys %{ $arr } )
            {
            $rval .= "[".$field.":".$arr->{ $field }."]";
            }
        }
    }

return($rval);

##</code><code>##

[rval (cmsParms)(1)[Extra:][Type:char(100)][Field:pKey][Default:][Null:NO][Key:PRI]]