In my HP filter, I wait for the output to flush with this code: #include <stdio.h> #include <sgtty.h> outputwait(fd) int fd; { int outchars; while(ioctl(fd, TIOCOUTQ, &outchars) == 0 && outchars > 0) { sleep(1); } } Robert Perlberg Dean Witter Reynolds Inc., New York phri!{dasys1 | philabs | mancol}!step!perl