> What if I run a 'select field1, field2, field3 from tableA' that > contains a 'limit output to 20 records" clause? > > Does it run through the whole table and then return 20 records? Or > does it stop executing at 20 records and return? I would think that if you have an index on the field(s) you will order by, a full table scan would not be necessary. -- sarah adams my son: http://clarkeadams.com twitter: http://twitter.com/sarahwbs portfolio: http://sarah.designshift.com