It uses the default degree of parallelism from the table. So if it's not set at the table, you'll get a serial plan. Ric Van Dyke Hotsos Enterprises, Ltd. -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of girlgeek Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 2:48 AM Cc: oracle-l Subject: parallel hint I see from the documentation that it is perfectly valid to write a parallel hint with neither degree nor default. For example: select /* + parallel */ ename from emp; (please pretend that emp is not a tiny table). What will oracle use to calculate the degree of parallelism used when the hint is constructed as above? I have been unable to find the answer in the documentation. Thank you, Claudia -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l