Are you sure it was running cost-based when the FILTER was missing - I only put the hint in to show that I was running cost-based. A partitioned table will force cost-based, even in the absence of stats. (And, yes, it could be that 9.2.0.6 is just a little bit better at predicate tricks than 9.2.0.4). Regards Jonathan Lewis http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk/faq/ind_faq.html The Co-operative Oracle Users' FAQ http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk/seminar.html Public Appearances - schedule updated Jan 21st 2005 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Khedr, Waleed" <Waleed.Khedr@xxxxxxx> To: <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 5:16 PM Subject: RE: Stop Criteria for Sql Execution The filter step did not show up in 9.2.0.4 without all_rows hint. It shows up only if the table is partitioned (even on another column). Waleed -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l