Hi, Database queries using the combination DBI + ROracle are handicapped by quirks in the pipeline between the textual representation of the query and the database engine Oracle. dbGetQuery(conn, query): work: dbGetQuery(conn, "select * from dual") dbGetQuery(conn, "select * from dual /* comment */") dbGetQuery(conn, "select /* comment */ * from dual") don't: dbGetQuery(conn, "\nselect * from dual") dbGetQuery(conn, "select\n * from dual") dbGetQuery(conn, "/* comment */ select * from dual") best ch -- Dr. Christian W. Hoffmann, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL Zuercherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland Tel +41-44-7392-277 (office), -111(exchange), -215 (fax) christian.hoffmann at wsl.ch, www.wsl.ch/staff/christian.hoffmann