>>>Is there anyway to prevent ".null." from populating a field when an outer
>>>join is done and no match is found in the child table? I already have SET
>>>NULL OFF.
>>
>>Garrett Fitzgerald pointed out a Knowledge Base article on this topic just
>>last week. Take a look at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q268/9/06.asp
>
>Rick, that's a different issue. In fact, that article I pointed out will put .NULL.s in the join. :-)
>
>Michael, there are at least two ways to do this. If you aren't worried about the .NULL. values, but don't want them cluttering your display, you can use the SET NULLDISPLAY command to set the .NULL.s to a blank string, or something similar.
>
>If you don't want the .NULL.s in the SELECT at all, you can do something like:
>

SELECT t1.field, NVL(t2.field, SPACE(10)) ;
>   FROM t1
>      LEFT JOIN t2 ON t1.pk = t2.fk

Sorry, Garrett, I didn't mean to misquote you. I suppose it depends on how you interpret Michael's original post. I felt that the KB article you referenced would be helpful to him, and judging by his reply to me, it was. Of course, so is the information you've added here.