Question about .available()

Grumpy_Mike:
Is LCDserial a software serial library? Or is it a way of sending data to a serial LCD as the name would imply.

Arduino 1.0, using Software Serial on pins 7 and 8.

No. Serial.available() returns the number of bytes available to be read. It does not return TRUE or FALSE.

Re-read. I was stating that the IF statement would return TRUE, if 1 or more characters were available.

No. Reading a character will reduce, by one, the number of bytes available to be read.

Think thats what I said, "serial.read() will remove that character from the buffer..."

So, that being said, I must be missing a piece of data that I am not reading out ???
How can I clear the buffer?