http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=995388


in reply to Number of elements in array

If you want to get the number of rows in a database table, the most efficient way would be to let the database count them: 
  ...prepare ("Select COUNT(*) FROM TABLE_OR_QUERY");
   # TABLE_OR_QUERY can be another (SELECT...) statement

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Most databases will optimize queries, so you can do the count query, then do the data query as 2 separate queries.

             I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it.
                   -SNL

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