$count = 0 ;

  ....

  while($array = $sth1->fetchrow_array()) {
    $count++ ;
                
    if ($sth1->rows == 0) {
      print "No records matched for $ref\nn" ;
    }
    elsif ($count == 1) {
      $t = $array ;
      print "Entering taxID_format with $t\n" ;
      #&taxID_format($t) ;
    }
  }