SQL count rows in a table

Question

I need to send a SQL query to a database that tells me how many rows there are in a table. I could get all the rows in the table with a SELECT and then count them, but I don

Answer 1

select sum([rows])
from sys.partitions
where object_id=object_id('tablename')
 and index_id in (0,1)

is very fast but very rarely inaccurate.