would this be a buffer problem or something else

hello all, I have noticed on this server/talk/chat I am trying to write, that when i or another user logs on, right away, it will go to the if statement in my chat handling function, that says something to the affect of /* something entered but not a . */ if(($words[0] != '.' ) && count($words) == 1) { socket_write($sock, "$user said $words[0]"); } /* end of if */ and when i log on, it will automatically hit that last if statement like there is something still in the buffer and it seems to be a blank space or maybe its a new line or something, but I have ob_implicit_flush(); called before any of the code but shouldnt that take care of all buffers, or just the output buffer? if so, how do I make sure the "input buffer" is emptied every time i think this is the reason I am having a problem with new variables not being filled with anything, the code doesn't even wait, it apparently is some big code problem on my part or i just need to somehow clear the input buffer, which i assume is just stdin, do i need something like flush($sock); or did i just hit the nail on the head with that question matt