Just change your control flow slightly and prepare/execute the entire statement inside the if/elsif/else blocks (warning: untested code) 
sub get_musings_entries {
# get musings from MySQL

my ($musing_id,$ref_id) = @_;
if($ref_id && $ref_id eq 'all') {
   $sth = $dbh->prepare(qq|SELECT musing_id, ref_id, 
                           heading,abstract, 
                           DATE_FORMAT(entry_date, '%M %e, %Y') 
                           FROM musings 
                           ORDER BY entry_date DESC|);
   $sth->execute();
}
elsif($ref_id) {
   $sth = $dbh->prepare(qq|SELECT musing_id, ref_id, 
                           heading, abstract, 
                           DATE_FORMAT(entry_date, '%M %e, %Y') 
                           FROM musings 
                           WHERE ref_id = '?'
                           ORDER BY entry_date DESC
                           LIMIT 10|);
   $sth->execute($ref_id);
}
else {
   $sth = $dbh->prepare(qq|SELECT musing_id, ref_id,  
                           heading, entry, 
                           DATE_FORMAT(entry_date, '%M %e, %Y') 
                           FROM musings 
                           WHERE musing_id = '?'|);
   $sth->execute($musing_id);
}

my $entries = $dbh->selectall_arrayref($sql_stmnt);
$sth->finish();  

return $entries;
}

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In reply to Re^3: How's My Style Now? by chb
in thread How's My Style Now? by Spenser

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