This page may be helpful: Using MyQSL in batch mode.

There are arguments to the mysql command line utility like: > mysql -e "source batch_file", where batch_file is a file with SQL batch commands in it. So what you may need to do is something like... system("mysql -e source $db_load_file");?

In other words, there are things that the mysql command line utility can do that are outside of the SQL spec and you might just need to use Perl to execute a shell command rather than using DBI.

Does this not work because DBI doesn't really encapsulate all the commands of the mysql command line? That could be right! If so, just run the shell command from Perl. Once the DB has been created, fire up DBI, connect to it and away you go!

This part: That would make sense but then how can I accomplish this without scp'ing the file over and running a system command via ssh? does confuse me as you say that the file is already in both locations already! But with the mysql command line, you can log-on to a remote host with the -h option and use your local version of "batch_file".

shell> mysql -h host -u user -p < batch_file
Enter password: ********
[download]

So I would suggest reading the link I posted above, get what you want to have happen working manually with you typing the shell commands in, then if you can't get Perl to do everything you want in an "automagic" way, check back in and I'm sure you will get lots of help on how to get the last 10% working!