hi have 2 tables

a)category
+------------------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+------------------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| categoryId | int(11) | | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |
| categoryTitleEnglish | varchar(100) | YES | | NULL | |
| categoryTitleFrench | varchar(100) | YES | | NULL | |
| categoryDetailsEnglish | mediumtext | YES | | NULL | |
| categoryDetailsFrench | mediumtext | YES | | NULL | |
| superCategoryId | int(11) | YES | | NULL | |
| subCategoriesId | mediumtext | YES | | NULL | |
| imageURL | mediumtext | YES | | NULL | |
+------------------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+----------------

b)items table
+---------------------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+---------------------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| itemId | int(11) | | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |
| modelNumber | varchar(20) | YES | | NULL | |
| itemNameEnglish | varchar(100) | YES | | NULL | |
| itemNameFrench | varchar(100) | YES | | NULL | |
| itemPriceCAD | varchar(10) | YES | | NULL | |
| itemDescriptionEnglish | mediumtext | YES | | NULL | |
| itemDescriptionFrench | mediumtext | YES | | NULL | |
| imageURL | mediumtext | YES | | NULL | |
| stocksAvailable | char(1) | YES | | NULL | |
| categoryId | int(11) | | | 0 | |
| imageAvailableFinishesURL | mediumtext | YES | | NULL | |
+---------------------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+

I WANT TO SELECT CATEGORIES FOR WHICH THERE are no ITEMS..

but the following query is not working.. please help

select categoryId from category where categoryId NOT IN (select categoryId from items)

I GET the following error
ERROR 1064: You have an error in your SQL syntax near 'select categoryId from items)' at line 1

thanks

what version of mysql? Can't do subquery prior to 4.1

mysql Ver 11.18 Distrib 3.23.54, for redhat-linux-gnu (i386)
so i will update my mysql

categories for which there are no items --
works prior to 4.1 too

thanks..that was perfect