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What do the following mean in an sql sytax:

  1. (+) after a condition eg: "WHERE table1.col1 = table2.col2 (+)

  2. What does /* */ after select signify , i vaguely remember it being a suggestion to the optimizer, but where can i find more reference on this eg: select /* */ ...

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  • Sorry about all the edits it seems 2 of us tried to edit at the same time. Commented Jan 13, 2009 at 23:31

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  1. The (+) means an outer join syntax for SQL on Oracle.

  2. The /* alter the SELECT means a comment. In Oracle if the comments starts with /*+ (A plus after the comment token, means a hint, for instance /*+ORDERED*/

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ah yes, those are hints. I can google for further reference. Thanks
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By the way, a lot of business intelligence is stealth in SQL queries - and most queries, as long as they can be, do not have comments at all !

This is a shame :o)

Adding /* */ comments in a query should be done every time the query is not obvious. That is to say, most of the time...

A+ Sylvain.

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If we are talking oracle then the (+) is an outer join and /* some stuff */ is a comment. If the comment is of the form /*+ hint* */ then the comment is probably a hint. google on oracle hints

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I tried editing to add the inline-code backticks. Does that make it do what you want?
Close, was trtying to get the rem hint in italics /*+ hint */

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