OK, just plain and simple, I am going to give my 2 cents worth here. This question is pure BS. I mean has anyone here ever seen a query written like this? In my house(place of business) the person who tried to get this through me, would be ridiculed beyond belief. I mean really, did I get the question wrong, yep. Did I also think that the question was misleading, yep. Do I know a developer that would try to get this past me, nope. Lets get some real questions in here. First off I do not even let anyone write in ANSI 89 SQL. Plain and simple it is my way or the highway.