find out how many records a query would return without executing it

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find out how many records a query would return without executing it

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Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004514 More actions · Answer 1

No.

The estimated execution plan can give you the estimated number of rows, but that could be exactly correct, slightly wrong or several miles out depending on a large number of factors

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

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Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 399330 More actions · Answer 2

Like Gail says, the only way to know exactly what a query will return is to run it. Even if the statistics were accurate 30 seconds ago, they may no longer be accurate because a row got inserted.

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