Hi DBAs, I think it is a bug. But, just in case if anyone has a workaround for this problem. Export throws the following error when I use a DIRECT=3DY parameter. Has anyone faced this?=20 Environment : OS - HP -UX B.11.11 RDBMS - 8.1.7.4.0 /usr/sbin/mknod ARUL.pipe p nohup cat ARUL.pipe | gzip -9 > exp_svce_att_value.dmp.gz 2>&1 & nohup exp sidb_d01/xyz file=3DARUL.pipe tables=3Dsvce_att_value = compress=3Dn rows=3Dy direct=3Dy > exp_svce_att_value.log 2>&1 & cat exp_svce_att_value.log EXP-00041: Export done in server's UTF8, different from user's character set US7ASCII EXP-00000: Export terminated unsuccessfully Thanks, Arul. -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l