In case you wanted to know which Oracle version a particular SQL hint is applicable in or was introduced in. You can query V$SQL_HINT introduced in 11g for that. It holds even historical information. Column “version” gives oracle version in which a particular hint was introduced and version_outline probably gives upto which version upto which it is applicable.
[Update:2009-05-03 : Jonathan Lewis mentioned in a email to me that version_outline gives version in which a particular hint can be used in an outline. ]
This even has a column to give you inverse of an hint.
This view is a undocumented view.
SQL> desc v$sql_hint
Name Null? Type
—————————————– ——– —————————-
NAME VARCHAR2(64)
SQL_FEATURE VARCHAR2(64)
CLASS VARCHAR2(64)
INVERSE VARCHAR2(64)
TARGET_LEVEL NUMBER
PROPERTY NUMBER
VERSION VARCHAR2(25)
VERSION_OUTLINE VARCHAR2(25)