You missed the part where you study 'perldoc DBI' until you're ready to fall over, and then give up programming forever to become a mercenary in the wild African jungles because it's a much easier way to make a living. Otherwise, you've got it spot on. :)

# Or it can be as easy as...
perl -MDBI -wle 'print for DBI->connect("dbi:mysql:foo")->selectrow_ar
+ray("SELECT * FROM xyz")'
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