Hi Jonathan and All , i tried this on 9.2.0.1/WinXP instance. --------------------------------------------- sys@orcl>exec dbms_system.ksdwrt(1,'hello ... world'); PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. sys@orcl>exec dbms_system.ksdfls; PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. --------------------------------------------- .. and did not find these entries in my alert log. am i missing something ? can u let me know plz ! Regards, Prem. -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l