Because the values 'SIMILAR' and 'FORCE' are temporary values (even when you set for all the eternity) to fix binding problems immediatly. They are specially where developers forgot to bind variables in c++, jva,visual basic, etc. because oracle developer binds automatically. 'SIMILAR' and 'FORCE' could cause unwanted results. give a check to the documentation. Juan Carlos Reyes Pacheco OCP Database 9.2 Standard Edition ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. -- Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/ FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html -----------------------------------------------------------------