use strict;
use DBI;
my $dbh =DBConnect();
my $sth = $dbh->prepare("SELECT * FROM WHATEVER");
################
sub DBConnect{
  # Connect to the database
  my $CONNECTIONSTRING =
           "DSN=mySystemDSN;" .
           "Uid=myUsername;" .
           "Pwd=myPassword" ;

  return  DBI->connect("DBI:ODBC:$CONNECTIONSTRING",
                  '','', # Username and password
                  # Now set the DBI Attributes ...
                  {RaiseError => 1,  # do this, or check every call for errors
                   ChopBlanks=> 1, LongTruncOk  =>1, LongReadLen => 25}
                   )
        or die "Couldn't open database:'$CONNECTIONSTRING'\n $DBI::errstr; stopped";
}