> And here is the output of "desc projekte_generisch": > Name Null? Type > PID NOT NULL CHAR(8) > ANFANG NOT NULL VARCHAR2(8) > ENDE VARCHAR2(8) > LAENGE NOT NULL NUMBER I believe the problem has to do with your field type for PID. When you run: select * FROM projekte_generisch where pid='u0test' Oracle either autotrims or autopads (I'm not sure which) so that 'u0test' matches PID even though PID has a fixed 8-character length. But when you use bind variables, this doesn't happen. So you'll need to use: select * FROM projekte_generisch where trim(pid)=:pid Or you can change the field definition on PID to varchar2. I tested this on one of our tables which has a char(4) primary key to verify all this: select count(*) from subject_area where subject_area = 'EE'; returns 1. But using a bind variable: declare v_sa varchar2(10); v_count number; begin v_sa := 'EE'; select count(*) into v_count from subject_area where subject_area = v_sa; dbms_output.put_line(v_count); end; returns a 0. -Roberto -- PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php