Paul > What is this indexjoin operation? To save a table access the query optimizer is able to get the data by joining two indexes on the same table (based on the ROWID that can be found in both segments). Of course this is only possible when all referenced attributes are indexed. > I have never seen it. FYI: this is not something "new". Here a link to the 8.1.5 where it is documented... http://download-uk.oracle.com/docs/cd/F49540_01/DOC/server.815/a67781/c2 0b_ops.htm#1164 HTH Chris -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l