Hi > Is there any way to determine if a SQL statement entered via SQL*Plus > is using a stored outline other than the fact that the plan changes? You already get plenty of good information. I would just like to add one that I didn't see in the other replies. And, IMHO, it is the easiest ;-) Since you are working with 10.2 there is only a good way to have a look to an execution plan: to use dbms_xplan. If you do it you will see that in the section containing the notes the utilization of outlines is provided. Here an example (notice the last line): SQL> SELECT * FROM table(dbms_xplan.display(NULL,NULL,'basic +note')); Plan hash value: 1601196873 ---------------------------------- | Id | Operation | Name | ---------------------------------- | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| T | ---------------------------------- Note ----- - outline "P_OUTLINE_EDITING" used for this statement HTH Chris -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l