Ken > I don't see the benefit of this feature; if the user needs to run > the query for a valid business purpose and the query is written > well (i.e. not missing a join etc.) then the temp space should be > created large enough to accommodate it. If the user doesn't need > to run the queries or doesn't know how to write well formed queries > then he shouldn't be allowed to write them to begin with, especially > in production and a request made to the reporting staff for the > data. In an ideal world I'll agree with you, i.e. such a feature is not necessary. Unfortunately, at least here in Europe, we don't live in an ideal world... Therefore sometimes such a feature could be very useful! Like hints or at least other 42 features are... An example: Last week I was by a customer where lot of reports are based on SQL scripts which are started through SQL*Plus. The scripts are changed on a daily/weekly basis and directly "tested" on production! Bleark, I agree. I let you imagine the problems the DBAs over there have to face... Just my 2 cents, Chris -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l