I'm not entirely (whatever the requirement) its wise to embark upon the usage of streams nowadays. It appears to me that Oracle are pretty much committed to heading down the GoldenGate path, and that streams will stagnate (no pun intended) -- Connor McDonald =========================== email: connor_mcdonald@xxxxxxxxx web: http://www.oracledba.co.uk "Semper in excremento, sole profundum qui variat"