DBD::mysql knows that certain MySQL column types are integers with this call:

$sth->execute;
$nums = $sth->{'mysql_is_num'} || [];

You can iterate over $nums and see which columns are numeric-type columns. However, when you pull the data out, it’s converted to a string. So, what used to be as simple as this:

my $accounts = $sth->fetchall_arrayref({});

now requires this kind of trickery:

my @accounts = ();
my $is_num   = $sth->{'mysql_is_num'} || [];
while (my $row = $sth->fetchrow_arrayref) {
    push @accounts, {
        map {
            $Acct_Fields[$_] =>   ## key
              ($is_num->[$_]      ## check to see if it's int
                ? 0 + $row->[$_]  ## coerce to integer/numeric
                : $row->[$_])     ## leave it alone
        } (0 .. $#Acct_Fields)    ## number of keys
    };
}

This seems to work as a primary test to see if a scalar ($val) is an number-ish thing:

I found a fast way to add a new column to a table.

MySQL

1. Create the new table like the old table (foo), but with the new column you want in it. Make the new table with a different name (foo_new):

2. Add the records from the old table into the new table:

    INSERT INTO foo_new (col1, col2, col3)
         SELECT col1, col2, col3 FROM foo
   

3. If you have a lot of records, you can disable index updates during insert: