in reply to what does sth->execute return ?

"if a database error occured or if the procedure itself is missing during the execution of the statement..."

Regardless of what DBI::execute returns, i always (well ... 99% of the time) handle errors by setting the RaiseError attrib to a true value: 

my $dbh = DBI->connect(
   qw(DBI:vendor:database:host user pass),
   {RaiseError=>1}
);

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Now, every error is caught, so i can safely use: 
my $sth = $dbh->prepare('select foo from bar');
$sth->execute();

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without having to check for errors ... DBI will do it for me. ;)

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom