> At 09:43 PM 16/02/2007, you wrote:
> >Unfortunately I have lots of code like
> >Select a.bla,b.bla,c.bla
> >from (taba a join tabb b)left outer join tabc c
> >
> >The presence of these brackets breaks the parser. I know
> Helen has told me
> >that the use of brackets in the 'from' is 'not correct syntax' but I
> >have been using it for years, it worked in V4.3Aa and it is
> accepted by
> >the engine.
> >
> >I have a huge task getting rid of the brackets especially as
> a lot of
> >SQL is generated in code and it is sometimes difficult to
> see both ends
> >of the brackets.
> >
> >Should the parser be 'fixed' or are we officially declaring
> the use of
> >brackets in 'from' illegal?
>
> Brackets in 'from' are legal, just not the way you are using
> them. You can (and sometimes need to) bracket the join
> conditions, i.e.
>
> from tableA a
> join tableB b on (........)
>
> I'm curious about where you picked up the idea of bracketing
> everything including the ON .... It's not even provided as
> an optional syntax under the standard, as far I can find out...
>
> Helen

Yes, I'm curious as well. Its so long ago I don't remember. I've never
read the standard my guess is I saw it somewhere :-/

Paul