hi, I've got a TCP server and client which uses a NetworkStream and communicates good. There's a problem though; On each side I can recieve and display data but the program can not read it as a normal string. For example, if the server recieves "exit" from the client it'l use Dim bytes(tcpc.ReceiveBufferSize) As Byte Dim clientdata As String NetStream.Read(bytes, 0, CInt(tcpc.ReceiveBufferSize)) clientdata = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bytes) this works fine to just output through a messagebox or the console to show the user what's recieved, but it can't use if clientdata = "exit" then me.close ' or something like that clientdata and "exit" will allways be separate no matter what i try, like clientdata.tostring or clientdata.tostring.tolower what's wrong? thanks in advance Live the life as you know it / Wille

The problem is the unused portion of your buffer; Nulls are valid elements in your String, but may not be displayed. Try this: clientdata = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bytes) clientdata = clientdata.Substring(0, clientdata.IndexOf(0))

No that didn't work but you were right, the NULLs in the string were causing the problem, I solved it with this. Public Function NullCheck(ByVal data As String) Dim rstr As String = "" For Each cch As Char In data If not cch = Nothing Then rstr = rstr & cch End If Next Return rstr End Function However, while this worked, another problem turned up. If I send a string and recieve it, it can be read and displayed. But after that, if I send a shorter string, the difference will be displayed in the characters sent by the before string; Like this, if I first send "this works!" and then "not now", the second will become "not nowks". It'll take the "ks" from the first one. Why is that? Thanks for your help Razor2.3, I really appreciate it. Live the life as you know it / Wille

Never mind, I solved that too. Anyway, Thanks for your help Razor. Live the life as you know it / Wille