Hi Steve >Is anyone aware of how to find all available hints in an oracle release >(including undocumented)? Thanks 1) Execute "strings $ORACLE_HOME/bin/oracle > ttt" and then do some = searches (the hints are uppercase) with your favorite text editor. 2) Enable SQL trace at system level and "analyze" the generated trace = files HTH Chris -- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l