sub getarticles {                                                                                                                     
        my $article = shift;                                                                                                          
        my $query = qq(SELECT reply FROM replies WHERE article=$article ORDER BY reply);                                              
        my $sth = $dbh->prepare($query);                                                                                              
        $sth->execute;                                                                                                                
        $sth->rows or return 0;                                                                                                       
        while (my $reply = $sth->fetchrow) {                                                                                          
                my $query = qq(SELECT timestamp, subject, author FROM article WHERE id=$reply);                                       
                my $sth = $dbh->prepare($query);                                                                                      
                $sth->execute;                                                                                                        
                my ($timestamp, $subject, $author) = $sth->fetchrow;                                                                  
                $sth->finish;                                                                                                         
                ( code to show the retrieved items as html, snipped )
                $indent++;                                                                                                            
                &getarticles($reply);                                                                                                 
                $indent--;                                                                                                            
        }                                                                                                                             
        $sth->finish;                                                                                                                 
        return;                                                                                                                       
}