>A-ha! An even better explanation is the special ":" Result-set operator in > a ConText query: >http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/A57673_01/DOC/server/doc/CO20APP/ch03.ht >m#2189 >(look for "MAX" in that page) You'll need to escape the colon, as it has >special meaning in ConText. Thanks for that tip but unfortunately, escaping the colon makes no difference. I did not think the colon was the problem anyway because both strings have one. > Is there a difference in the SCORE returned in your tests? > > In call cases that I listed where the query works for the value '05:1254C', the score is 16. When I query against the other value (which works all the time) the score is 13. Bob -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l