Maybe pipleined function can help you if you are >=9.2. and just do directly select on the function. select * from pkg.func(:name_of_variable); You can use where That will be less load then reading it from user_source I think. Regards, Zoran __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Send holiday email and support a worthy cause. Do good. http://celebrity.mail.yahoo.com -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l