I hope somebody can make sense of this. First, I don't understand what the difference is supposed to be between & and && - is there a difference for php and/or mysql? Second, I am trying to select all occurrences in a table.column where the first letter of the name is I, J, or K but not I or J or K; I want the all. Now, entering the following is no problem for any one letter: SELECT * FROM book WHERE id IN (SELECT bookID FROM book_author WHERE authID IN (SELECT author.id FROM author WHERE LEFT(last_name, 1 ) = '$Auth' )); But the following does not work: SELECT * FROM book WHERE id IN (SELECT bookID FROM book_author WHERE authID IN (SELECT author.id FROM author WHERE LEFT(last_name, 1 ) = '$Auth' && LEFT(last_name, 1 ) = '$Auth1' && LEFT(last_name, 1 ) = '$Auth2')); Yet this gives off the wall results where the last names are nowhere near what they should be. Anyone have a rational explanation? -- unheralded genius: "A clean desk is the sign of a dull mind. " ------------------------------------------------------------- Phil Jourdan --- pj@xxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.ptahhotep.com http://www.chiccantine.com/andypantry.php -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php