So, I got bored, and bashed this thing together: #include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> int main(void) { char line[128]; char *nodenum, *nodename; int i; while (gets(line)!=NULL) { if (line[0] != ) { nodenum = strtok (line, \n ); nodename = strtok (NULL, \n ); for(i = 0; nodename[i]; i++) { nodename[i] = tolower(nodename[i]); } printf( node\t\t%s\t\tname\t\t%s\n ,nodenum,nodename); } } } So on the linux box: # gcc -o mkhecnodes mkhecnodes.c # dncopy 1.13::nodenames.dat nodenames.dat # ./mkhecnodes <nodenames.dat >> /etc/decnet.conf It works for me. Tony.