> The spec does require a FROM clause in SELECT (at least as of SQL99, did > not check SQL2003). However, it's clearly mighty useful to allow FROM > to be omitted for simple compute-this-scalar-result problems. You > should respond to the Oracle guy that "SELECT whatever FROM dual" is not > in the standard either (certainly the spec does not mention any such > table).
Thanks for your answers guys. I was pretty sure DUAL wasn't in the standard (never seen it outside an oracle context) but wasn't at all sure about the FROM. Cheers Antoine ps. shame the standard isn't "freely" consultable to save you guys silly OT questions! -- This is where I should put some witty comment.
