Here's what I use for fetching single values (avoids explicit prepare, execute, bind) (update - and fetch and finish): 
my $sql = qq{
    SELECT server_id
    FROM   wms_rf_server
    WHERE  server_name = 'splwebdev.unix.us.tld.com'
};
my($server_id) = $dbh->selectrow_array($sql);

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The parens are not strictly necessary in this case cause we specified only one column but it's good to get into the habit because without them it's undefined which value you'll get from a multi-column query.

update 2 duh! I meant selectrow_array not fetchrow_array, thanks runrig

In reply to Re: Why does the same SQL return different results in the DBI and in SQL*Plus? by jZed
in thread Why does the same SQL return different results in the DBI and in SQL*Plus? by Akoya

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