Does autotrace ever show the live plan, ie the plan from v$sql_plan?I traced autotrace on 9iR2 and 10gR2 and in both cases they use "explain plan" to generate the explain plan. I guess that fine since theoretically within my same session the calculated execution plan, ie "explain plan", would have to be the same as the actual executed plan, but with v$sql_plan in place, I somehow find it disconcerting that the plan isn't extracted from v$sql_plan. Best Kyle http://perfvision.com http://oraclemonitor.com