use DBI;

my $dbh= DBI->connect("dbi:mysql:test", "", "", {RaiseError => 1, AutoCommit => 0});

my $addprod = $dbh->prepare("insert into products (pname, unit, qty, cost) values (?, ?, ?, ?)");

...
$addprod->execute('apple', 'kg', 1, 1.99);
...
$dbh->commit();#commit for each unit of work, or rollback, for really simple cases, you can turn on AutoCommit
...
$dbh->disconnect();