Thanks for your reply
I solved the problem eventually. I had hardcoded the computer name address in the server program and used the hostname() method
in the client program. Even though both programs sat on the same computer, the client could not figure out where to
send the data to.
All this became a little clearer when I put in the -w switch in at the top. But i have now inserted $@ instead of $i in the code.
many thanks
Ant