# retrieve user from the db 
my $username = get_user($id); 
 
if ( $username ) { 
    .... 
    .... 
    .... 
} 
 
 
sub get_user { 
 
    my $id        = shift; 
    my $host      = "remotehost"; 
    my $database  = "dbase"; 
    my $tablename = "tname"; 
    my $user      = "user"; 
    my $pw        = "password"; 
 
    my $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:$database:$host" , $user, $pw, 
			   { RaiseError => 1} ) 
            or die "Connection Error: $DBI::errstr\n"; 
 
  # no need to select subscr_id since we already know that value 
  # and will be using it to retrieve the "username", if the id is found 
    my $sql = "SELECT username FROM members WHERE subscr_id = ?"; 
    my $sth = $dbh->prepare($sql); 
    $sth->execute($id); 
    my $username = $sth->fetchrow_array; 
 
    $sth->finish(); 
    $dbh->disconnect; 
     
    return $username;  # returns the 'username' or undef if not found in the db 
}