Need a row count after SELECT statement: what's the optimal SQL approach?

Question

I\'m trying to select a column from a single table (no joins) and I need the count of the number of rows, ideally before I begin retrieving the rows. I have come to two app

Answer 1

Here are some ideas:

• Go with Approach #1 and resize the array to hold additional results or use a type that automatically resizes as neccessary (you don't mention what language you are using so I can't be more specific).
• You could execute both statements in Approach #1 within a transaction to guarantee the counts are the same both times if your database supports this.
• I'm not sure what you are doing with the data but if it is possible to process the results without storing all of them first this might be the best method.