Mark replies: > Try this instead: > Alter table erptbl add (newcol1 nchar(1) default not null); > > I think you¹ll find that if you add the NOT NULL¹, it becomes DDL only > operation, and completes w/ sub second response. Perhaps, but a NOT NULL constraint and DEFAULT value are very different. The NOT NULL will error out when violated whereas the DEFAULT value will just fill in the gap. And I'm not able to modify the SQL... Thanks for the feedback! Rich -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l