If you have a column with a fulltext index, you can use the MySQL syntax 'MATCH(column_name) AGAINST(search_word)'.

And please use placeholders:

my $sth = $dbh->prepare('SELECT * FROM `productTable` WHERE MATCH(`mfg
+`, `productID`, `desc`) AGAINST(?)');
$sth->execute($keywords);
# (untested)
[download]

If you don't have a fulltext index, you have to split the search word manually, and construct a corresponding SQL statement.

Update: BTW if you decorate all your SQL statements with an 'or die', you could alternatively set the RaiseError option during connect(), that way you'll get a better error message, and you'll type less.