help with count query in mysql

[FLAHERTY, JIM-CONT]

How do you  do a count query in mysql ?  I have redhat 7.1 mysql 3.23   
 
code  
 
 
######################################################
#     get stats
######################################################
 
use DBI;
my $database = "VHD";
my $data_source = "DBI:mysql:$database";
my $username = "name";
my $password = "password";
 
$dbh =DBI ->connect($data_source, $username, $password);
my $sth1 = $dbh -> prepare("select count(*) from jobs where status =
'closed'");
$sth1 -> execute or die " unable to execute query ";
 

my $array_ref = $sth1 -> fetchall_arrayref();
  foreach $row(@$array_ref){
my($closedJ) = @$row;
# print LOG "$row";
print LOG "$closedj[0]";
 
}
$dbh -> disconnect;
 
 
 
thank you in advance
 
Jim F