Sheesh, people are really keen on bagging the CBO...Hell, we all know its trivial to produce scenarios where the CBO will get it wrong (inter-column dependencies always being a common one)..
But a little humility please...I've also had many times where I've seen a plan and thought..."Nah, CBO has got it wrong"...so I hint it in the way that I think will be best, and guess what, my option sucks and the CBO's choice was better...Man, we all stay quiet on that one don't we...
:-)
-- Connor McDonald =========================== email: connor_mcdonald@xxxxxxxxx web: http://www.oracledba.co.uk
"Semper in excremento, sole profundum qui variat" -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l