THX, chromatic, perltidy looks tasty. :p

Just from reformatting via cperl-mode, the script came down about 200 lines. But, as you say, the globals are sticky and I began replaicing pages of if-elsif code into simple switch/case statements, removing many lines of useless code.

So far, tho, the tcpdump of the TCP/IP traffic is proving unhelpful as the Sun box and the VAXen share data amongst various processes. The Sun 2 W2K is more helpful. I can at least see what the two sides are talking about ...

Looks like I will be able to totally redo at least half of the existing program.

HTH
--
idnopheq
Apply yourself to new problems without preparation, develop confidence in your ability to to meet situations as they arrise.

~ Shunryu Suzuki