>>I have this query
>>
>>

>>....
>>left outer join dbo.accounts a on a.acct_name = t.acct_name
>>			left outer join dbo.transact r WITH (index = sale_no) on r.sale_no = t.sale_no
>>

>>
>>Note the WITH (index = nameOfTheIndex)
>>
>>clause.
>
>Thanks, is this SQL ANSI compliant? Also, does this syntax apply also to a WHERE clause?

It can be used in SQL Server. I'm not sure such hints can be used in other database languages.

BTW, you can investigate Query Hints topic in BOL.