I usually use a callback routine for convenience.
This reduces looping logic to one common place.
sub Fetch_w_callback{ # Main DBI retrieval mechanism----
my ($sql, $callback) = @_;
my $state = $_[2] ||= {}; # ** This THIRD param is CALL-by-ref **
$debug{SQL} = $sql;
(my $sth=$dbh->prepare($sql))->execute();
$state->{ROW} = 0;
while (my $row = $sth->fetchrow_hashref()){
$debug{ROW} = $state->{ROW}++;
last if $callback->($row,$state) < 0; # Return negative to quit
}
$sth->finish;
}
## Sample call, later in the code ....
Fetch_w_callback( "select client_name from xxx where cid='some-cid'",
sub{ $row->{whatever} = $_[0]->{client_name}; # SET
#Process other values );
Most people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.