use DBI;

 my $dbh = DBI->connect('DBI:mysql:CLTE') or die "Couldn't connect to database: " . DBI->errstr;

       $sql = "
  SELECT * 
  FROM   clttable 
  WHERE clt = '$INPUT{'clt'}%'  #also tried replacing % with * character.
";
$sth = $dbh->prepare("$sql") or print "preparing: ",$dbh->errstr;
$sth->execute or print "executing: ", $dbh->errstr;


$row = $sth->fetchrow_hashref;
  $dbh->disconnect;