The subroutine pasted below is part of a Perl DBI script that connects to an Oracle 9i database. This subroutine runs many times in a short time period. My DBA tells me that Oracle is parsing the subroutine's query each time the subroutine runs. Is there something I can do to encourage Oracle to save and re-use the execution plan for this query? 
sub secIsNew {
 
  # Given a PACE security ID, return 1 if that security is newly held,
  # 0 if that security is not newly held.

  use strict 'vars';
  my($secId) = $_[0];
  my($sth); # Statement handle
  my($count); # Count returned by SQL select statements

  my($sql) = "select count(*) 
                  from analytics.an_security 
                  where security_id = :1 and is_new = 'Y'"; 
  $sth = $dbh->prepare($sql);
  $sth->bind_param(1, $secId);
  $sth->execute();
  ($count) = $sth->fetchrow_array;

  return $count;
}

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In reply to Question About Proper Use of Bind Variables in Perl DBI Scripts by JPD

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