print "table exists" if grep {"tablename" eq $_ } $dbh->tables;

##</code><code>##

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

my $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:mysql;host=localhost",
        "username","password", {RaiseError => 1})
        or die "can't connect\n";


#
# Checks for a table in a given database
#
sub table_exists {
    my ($dbh, $table) = @_;
    return grep {$table eq $_} $dbh->tables
}

my $mytable = "user";

if (table_exists($dbh,$mytable)) {
    print "table $mytable exists";
}
else {
    print "table $mytable does not exist";
}

$dbh->disconnect();