my $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:database=mydatabase;host=localhost",
                         "name", "password",
                         {'RaiseError' => 1});

$SQLStatement = "SELECT etc..."			
$sel = $dbh->prepare( $SQLStatement ); 
$sel->execute() || die "Could not open database";
while( ($somedata) = $sel->fetchrow_array  )
{#actions...}