Is this an error in the sql parser? SELECT tblA.col1, tblB.col1 FROM tblA, tblB WHERE tblA.recid = tblB.tblAptr and NOT tblA.col1 = tblB.col1 ... returns the same results as ... SELECT tblA.col1, tblB.col1 FROM tblA, tblB WHERE tblA.recid = tblB.tblAptr and tblA.col1 = tblB.col1 ... in other words the NOT is ignored. Thanks, Tim Davis