HASH-JOIN

I occasionally see "HASH JOIN" in explain plans, but my brain hasn't yet comprehended what's occuring. I'm sure I'm likely being dense. I understand hash clusters (though I'm not using any), but I'm lost when Oracle says it's doing a HASH JOIN. I make extensive use of explain plans to assist ad hoc users with performance, and I'd really like to understand what's happening here. Could anyone please help?

Thanks!

--brad

• Bradley W. Skiles bwskiles_at_adpc.purdue.edu =
• Purdue University 317-494-0481 (o) =
• Freehafer Hall 317-428-3957 (p) =
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• Kellogg's Meteoric Theory of Data: "Data doesn't move; =
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