1. As per the Camel Book (3 ed.) p. 994 the local operator is used to localize a global variable within a dynamic scope.

   Use my for local variables whenever you can get away with it. Using local merely gives you a temporary value to a global variable. (the Camel Book (3 ed.) p. 588)

2. Did you declare $mwsdbh also as a local initially? If you leave the scope it was declared in, it looses its local value.

3. You can pass anything out to a subroutine: scalars, arrays, hashes, references, ...

   As long as the subroutine reads it back in through @_ in the right order it cannot be the cause of your problem. Can you post your code with the passing of the $mwsdbh variable to the subroutine and the way the subroutine used it?

CountZero

"If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler." - Conway's Law