sub open_report
 {
    my $sgv = $dbh->prepare("show variables");
    $sgv->execute();
    %MySQL_Variables = ();
    while (my($name, $value) = $sgv->fetchrow_array())
    {
       $MySQL_Variables{$name} = $value; # is there a systax err here
       # Then to use a mysql item in perl use 
       # $MySQL_Variables{"uptime"}
    }
}