yet it ALSO appears connected to others.

No, it doesn't. You just connect to one server, and pass it the SQL to execute.

It makes me wonder why I have to specify a database when making a connection?

If you don't specify the server, how would it know to which server to connect and to send the SQL?

In reply to Re^3: how to use DBI connect to >1 database by ikegami
in thread how to use DBI connect to >1 database by misterperl

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