If this is how makefilename works, then great. I don't think that strcat will ever go away, since it has been around for over 3 years now (I use it in my pieces, in any event), but it would make sense to find one object which we promote as the "right one".
thanks for the tip about strcat. This works - as long as i use symbols as arguments and not numbers. and this is ok for what i'm doing, so a big relief!
the main difference between strcat and makefilename is that you can't write something like "makefilename $1%s" - although Miller tells me this will soon be possible. Within an abstraction, strcat allows you to place a $1 type argument within it. - i've then been using loadbang connected to a "symbol $2" object to feed the second argument into the "strcat $1". -> problem solved.
thanks, iain