>>>>Hi,
>>>>
>>>>I know I should not be admitting to writing some stupid code. But I was refactoring code in one method where I have the following, in a long SQL Select.
>>>>

>>>>isnul( table1.table_pk,11) as table1_pk  
>>>>

>>>>Since this is a PK value of a table, it should never be NULL.
>>>>But suppose I was being extra cautious, why "11"?
>>>>
>>>>Please no name calling :)
>>>
>>>Maybe this is from LEFT join to table1.
>>>If it is so you can have NULL values in the query.
>>>
>>>WHY 11? Only you can tell :-)
>>>Maybe 11 is impossible value and that way you recognize these records?
>>>
>>>The example is from VFP but it is valid to TSQL too
>>>

>>>CREATE CURSOR Tbl1 (Fld1 int, Fld2 char(2))  && Let say you have Primary key based on Fld1
>>>INSERT INTO Tbl1 (Fld1, Fld2) VALUES (1, [aa])
>>>INSERT INTO Tbl1 (Fld1, Fld2) VALUES (2, [bb])
>>>
>>>CREATE CURSOR Tbl2 (Fld1 int, Fld2 char(2))
>>>INSERT INTO Tbl2 (Fld1, Fld2) VALUES (1, [cc])
>>>INSERT INTO Tbl2 (Fld1, Fld2) VALUES (2, [dd])
>>>INSERT INTO Tbl2 (Fld1, Fld2) VALUES (3, [ee])
>>>
>>>SELECT Tbl2.*,;
>>>       NVL(Tbl1.Fld1, 11) AS Tbl1Fld1;
>>>FROM Tbl2;
>>>LEFT JOIN Tbl1 ON Tbl2.Fld1 = Tbl1.Fld1
>>>

>>
>>Your point about the LEFT join makes sense. The SQL Select does have a LEFT joint of the same table. Which I am trying to eliminate. And I will check the code, down from this SQL Select, if the value 11 is being considered anywhere (as possible).
>>Thank you!
>
>Considering that, I have some tables with fixed, predefined PK's that are used in special cases. Something like that? What is the record with PK 11?

I think Borislav's code shows the case very well. It makes sense. If I don't do the NVL() in his code, I get NULLs. And this is why I used the ISNULL() or NVL(). 11 is probably just a random number because it is never used.
Thank you. And Thanks again to Borislav.