Here's my latest attempt, but I keep getting the error:
ORA-01008 cannot bind variable or I would get invalid column name
I thought maybe someone could look and have some input on this... where I might be at fault.. and I will still play around...
Thanks in advance, Zo.

#!perl -w

use strict;
use DBI;

# output file 
my $newfile = "./test_output.txt";
open(BATCH, ">>$newfile") || die "Can't open $newfile : the test_outpu
+t.txt file. $!";

# sets and prints the system date to the log file
my $datestamp = `Date /T`;
print BATCH $datestamp;

# initialize the variable to count the batch lines created
my $linecount = 0;

# connection to database
my $dbh = DBI->connect("dbi:Oracle:CS1", "admin", "admin123");
my $sql = "SELECT  batch_line, rowidtochar(rowid)  FROM batch_lines";

my $sth = $dbh->prepare($sql);
$sth->execute();

my ($batch, $row_id);
$sth->bind_columns(\$batch, \$row_id);

my $sth2 = $sth;

my $count=1;

while($sth->fetch()) {
  ##### test print
 # print BATCH "$row_id <$count>";
 # print "$row_id <$batch>\n";
 # $count++;
 #####
   
       $batch=~s/p12/servername/g;
       $batch=~s/D:/\nD:/g;
       $batch=~s/%/%%/g;
    
         # write to the file
         my $timestamp = `Time /T`;
         chop $timestamp;

             ##### test print
             print BATCH "$row_id <$count> $batch"." ".$timestamp;
             #####
             
         #  print BATCH $batch." ".$timestamp;
         #  writes to screen
             print $batch;   
         #  counts the batch line being read
             $linecount++;   
             
             ##### test count
             $count++;
             #####
             
         # executes the batch line
         # system($batch); 
         
    
     ##### update
      print BATCH "\n^^^^^^^^^^^^^^$row_id^^^^^^^\n";
      my $bsql = "UPDATE batch_lines SET exe_c = 'Y' WHERE  exe_c = 'N
+' AND rowid = chartorowid($row_id) ";
      $sth2= $dbh->prepare($bsql);
      $sth2->execute();
     #####
     print BATCH "\n########### $row_id #########\n"
      
}
$sth->finish();
$sth2->finish();

# close oracle connection
$dbh->disconnect();

# print count of batch lines
print BATCH "\nLines extracted this period: ".$linecount."\n";

# close new .txt file
close (BATCH);
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