Slooooow query question

This isn't realy a *slow* question, but a question about slow queries. :) Anyway, I'm trying to do a query such as the following: SELECT x FROM y ORDER BY x In this example, 'x' is a "primary key" with a unique index. As you would expect, this returns rows immediately. However, when I make the following change, there is a long pause as Informix examines the entire table: SELECT DISTINCT x FROM y ORDER BY x I would expect the query to simply follow the unique index and start returning rows immediately, but apparently it shifts into "distinct" mode and checks all rows in the selection set for uniqueness. Additionally, I'm hoping to be able to do a similar query on a table whose index is NOT unique. It would seem to me that Informix is *able* to return such a query quickly (i.e. without examining the entire table before returning any rows), but whether it actually does so is another matter. I've tried this query under Informix OnLine 5.0 and 6.0, with the same results. Setting the optimization level or updating statistics high does not seem to change anything. Is there any way to speed up a DISTINCT query? Am I just out of luck? Any help would be greatly appreciated. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Todd Saylor | Bi-Tech Software, Inc. "No matter where you go, there you are" | (916) 891-5281 ----------- Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice -----------