Hi Group, I have two DBs10.2.0.4 running on Solaris 10. And the output on these two databases are totally different from sqlplus: Select 'a' from dual; Output a: ' - a output b: 'A' -------------------------------- a I compare the system parameters and the setting for sqlplus, no difference found. I 'm wondering how dose the difference come out? Rgds David-- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l