I use that at the top of the cgi file:

use vars qw($_mem $cookie $sess_id $sess_ref $logged_in
$_pgtitle $_title %in $_un $_scripid $_req_dir $_pg
$_page_content $_pageName $_surl %vars $_show_message
$dbh $_dur_time $debug $inc_sess_id);
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The code $_mem is populated in the .cgi file, but below that code I pull in another file:

require "/home/username/req/vars.conf";
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And I use $_mem in there and in other files I require into the document, but they often appear empty, when I do it this way:

if($_mem) {
  # Do something here
} else {
  # Nope it is empty
}
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And it always runs the else statement because it shows empty in the .conf file, but in the .cgi file it is populated.

Am I doing something wrong?
Does calling it vars.conf and not putting a perl interpreter call into it, make a difference? (In other words would it work better if I made it vars.cgi and put the #! shebang line in it?)

thank you
Junior