> i don't have a few hunnert dollars to toss around, so i don't have a > copy of > the sql standard mysqlf and cannot comment with authority on it, but FWIW this is a copy of the 1999 standard (similar to the 1992 standard in this regard) http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/dbms/Data/Papers-Other/SQL1999/ It's split into a number of PDFs. The one describing the GROUP BY clause is in http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/dbms/Data/Papers-Other/SQL1999/ansi-iso-9075-2 -1999.pdf It doesn't make for easy reading though! Chris