my $sth = $sth->prepare ("select field from table");
    $sth->execute;
    $href = $sth->fetchrow_hashref;   # slowest
    @arr  = $sth->fetchrow_array;
    $aref = $sth->fetchrow_arrayref;
    my $field;
    $sth->bind_columns (\$field);
    $sth->fetch;                      # fastest

##</code><code>##

    my $sth = prepex (
        "select field1,  field2",
             \($field1, $field2),
        "from   table");
    while ($sth->fetch) {
        :
        }

##</code><code>##

UNIFY
============== Benchmarks (2500 records)
Benchmark: running array, arrayref, bindcol, hashref, each for at least 30 CPU seconds...
  hashref: 41 wallclock secs (39.26 usr +  0.01 sys = 39.27 CPU) @  1.81/s (n= 71)
    array: 35 wallclock secs (33.68 usr +  0.01 sys = 33.69 CPU) @  2.29/s (n= 77)  26.52 %
 arrayref: 34 wallclock secs (33.31 usr +  0.01 sys = 33.32 CPU) @  2.49/s (n= 83)   8.73 %  37.57 %
  bindcol: 34 wallclock secs (33.28 usr +  0.01 sys = 33.29 CPU) @  2.58/s (n= 86)   3.61 %           42.54 %

============== Benchmarks (~ 200 000 records) [8 fields]
Benchmark: timing 5 iterations of array, arrayref, bindcol, hashref...
  hashref: 188 wallclock secs (183.68 usr +  0.47 sys = 184.15 CPU)  5155.63 rec/s
    array: 140 wallclock secs (133.01 usr +  0.53 sys = 133.54 CPU)  7109.56 rec/s  37.90 %
 arrayref: 127 wallclock secs (124.30 usr +  0.44 sys = 124.74 CPU)  7611.11 rec/s   7.05 %  47.63 %
  bindcol: 125 wallclock secs (122.22 usr +  0.49 sys = 122.71 CPU)  7737.02 rec/s   1.65 %           50.07 %

============== Benchmarks (~ 200 000 records) [1 field]
Benchmark: timing 5 iterations of array, arrayref, bindcol, hashref...
  hashref: 113 wallclock secs (108.99 usr +  0.48 sys = 109.47 CPU)  8672.79 rec/s
    array:  76 wallclock secs ( 73.85 usr +  0.47 sys =  74.32 CPU) 12774.60 rec/s  47.30 %
 arrayref:  73 wallclock secs ( 70.89 usr +  0.42 sys =  71.31 CPU) 13313.80 rec/s   4.22 %  53.51 %
  bindcol:  69 wallclock secs ( 67.44 usr +  0.47 sys =  67.91 CPU) 13980.40 rec/s   5.01 %           61.20 %