The order of the join have no importance. Just be sure to have an index on each left expression in the query so that Rushmore can kick in.

HTH

>How does VFP optimize a query when using join clauses?
>
>I have to get data from 2 children tables. The link is via the parent.
>
>Parent : SoHeader has customer ship to # and SoNo and CustNo
>Child1 : SoTrans has what was ordered, and SoNo
>Child2 : CustAddr has Customer ship to address.
>
>I need to get $s and # of units totals from SOTrans, and group them by each ship to location.
>
>So do you start at the parent, or a child in the SQL when using joins?