Dear Monks

how would i put this code to connect to a database in a function. The code itself is inside a function which needs to 'return' if the connection fails. This is the code as it is now: 


#database connection variables defined here with 'our' scope
sub function1 {
    eval {
        my $db = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:database=$sql_database;host=$
+sql_host;port=$sql_port", $username, $password,{'RaiseError' => 1});
};
return "some value", "Error: $@" if $@;

}

[download]
The only thing i can think of is really convoluted and i don't know how to tell if the return type is a string or a connection object. I borrowed the typeof function from another language :) 
sub function1 {

    my $db=&connect(pass in connection parameters...) 
    if typeof $db = string 
        return "some value", "Error: $db";
}

sub connect{

    eval {
        my $db =     DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:database=$sql_database;ho
+st=$sql_host;port=$sql_port", $username, $password,{'RaiseError' => 1
+});
};
if $@
    return $@;
else
    return $db
}

[download]
thanks a lot

In reply to how to put this db connection code into a function by Anonymous Monk

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