htons and ntohs not working? C UNIX networking -

i'm new network programming in c , started off trying send array read keyboard server. problem whenever read length of array keyboard, add 2/3 , not right anymore. example:

length or array give: 2 client read keyboard 4 or 5 elements , if itry print them afterwards, don't have value gave them. totally different numbers.

this how client looks like:

#include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> #include <sys/socket.h> #include <arpa/inet.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <errno.h> #include <unistd.h>  int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {     int sockfd;     struct sockaddr_in server;     /*char msg[1000], serv_reply[2000];*/       if ( (sockfd = socket(af_inet, sock_stream, 0)) < 0) {         perror("error in creating stupid sock client ");         exit(errno);     }      puts("socket created in client ");     memset(&server, 0, sizeof(server));     server.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr("127.0.0.1");     server.sin_family = af_inet;     server.sin_port = htons(9255);      if ( connect(sockfd, (struct sockaddr*)&server, sizeof(server)) < 0) {         perror("connection failed ");         exit(errno);     }      puts("yey! connected");      printf("let's try \n" );     printf("nr of elem = ");     **int a;     scanf("%d", &a);     = htons(a);     if ( send(sockfd, &a, sizeof(a), 0 ) < 0 ) {         perror("client sent error");         exit(errno);     }     int i, elem;     for( =0; i<a; i++) {         printf("enter number: ");         scanf("%d", &elem);         elem = htons(elem);         printf("%d", elem);         if ( send(sockfd, &elem, sizeof(elem), 0) < 0) {             perror("couldn't send damn element ");             exit(errno);         }     }**     int somth;     recv(sockfd, &somth, sizeof(somth), 0);     somth = ntohs(somth);     printf("we got %d ", somth);     close(sockfd); } 

here server:

#include <unistd.h> #include <errno.h> #include <sys/socket.h> #include <arpa/inet.h> #include <resolv.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <string.h>  #define my_port 9999 #define maxbuf 1024  int main (int argc, char* argv[]) {     int sockfd; struct sockaddr_in server, client; int c, l;  if ( (sockfd = socket(af_inet, sock_stream, 0)) < 0) {     perror("error creating stupid socket ");     exit(errno); }  memset(&server, 0, sizeof(server)); server.sin_port = htons(9255); server.sin_family = af_inet; server.sin_addr.s_addr = inaddr_any;  if ( bind(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *) &server, sizeof(server)) < 0) {     perror("error in socket binding ");     exit(errno); }  if ( listen (sockfd, 20) < 0) {     perror("erro listening dumb sock ");     exit(errno); } printf("we're on!! " ); l = sizeof(client); memset(&client, 0, l);  while(1) {     int a;       c = accept(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *) &client, &l);         if (c == -1) {             perror("error accepting connection");             continue;         } else {                  printf("cool, have new client! \n");         }       if (recv( c, &a, sizeof(a), msg_waitall) < 0) {         perror("error reading in server ");         exit(errno);     }      = ntohs(a);      int i, elem,sum;     ( = 0; i<a; i++) {         if ( recv(c, &elem, sizeof(elem), msg_waitall)< 0) {             perror("error reading elems ");             exit(errno);         }         elem = ntohs(elem);         sum = sum + elem;     }     sum= ntohs(sum);      if ( send(c, &sum, sizeof(sum), 0) < 0) {         perror("error sending client ");         exit(errno);     }      close(c); } } 

i tried switching htons ntohs , inverse , same problem. idea what's wrong?

one major problem loose original a enter in client, when later use in loop condition might not expect.

another major problem s in e.g. htons stands short, , on modern pc systems short 16 bits while int 32 bits.

try using htonl , ntohl instead!