I have thoughts about using any array_ref as your result set from a DB call, as I like using hashref, but that's another thread. Here's what I'd do: (untested for syntax errors)

my $i = 0;
while ($sth->fetchrow_hashref){$i++;
##..do other stuff..
}
do_your_no_row_stuff($vars) unless $i;
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Or

do_no_row_stuff() unless $sth->fetchrow_hashref;
## Of course, the first row is now useless.. but..
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One4k4 - perlmonks@poorheart.com (www.poorheart.com)