try declaring the variable at the start of your sub 
sub print_current {

my $dbh = (@_);

my $current =''; #same as undef

## Retrieve information from the database.
my $sth_1 = $dbh->prepare ("SELECT count FROM counter;");
   $sth_1->execute || die "$dbh->errstr()";
while (my $fields = $sth_1->fetchrow_arrayref()) {
$current = $fields->[0];
}

## Display that information for the user.
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "$current others have gathered information here.\n";

return ($current);
}

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In reply to Re: Initialised values that fail to initialise..? by atnonis
in thread Initialised values that fail to initialise..? by Anonymous Monk

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