Thanks Dennis, Mark, & Igor for the responses ... The instance in question is 8.1.7 Our reporting system: - doesn't understand PL/SQL (only SQL selects) - only uses the column name (or alias) in the report. So, the vendor will have to settle for 30 characters. I wonder which 30 they'll choose ... hmmmmm. Thanks for the effort. Jon Knight __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l