You're right, I was leaving too much unsaid. Even examples I post to the DBI list look like:

 my ( $sth );
 eval {
   $sth = $dbh->prepare( qq/ select blech from blah / );
   $sth->execute;
 };
 if ( $@ ) {
   die "Something screwed up! Error: $@";
 }

 ...
[download]

That's how much I've drilled it into myself. I even dream in eval {} blocks! (Takes care of all those nasty nightmares...)

I must say, that does look cool. It would be the better way to do it. I have yet to make any real use of eval()...to my shame. but i suppose it is just this sort of thing it comes in handy for. thanks.

"sometimes when you make a request for the head you don't
want the big, fat body...don't you go snickering."
                                         -- Nathan Torkington UoP2K a.k.a gnat