Re: Best way to know if there is a row

Martin Marques <martin(at)bugs(dot)unl(dot)edu(dot)ar> writes:
> I need to know if there is at least one row in the relation that comes from a
> determinated query. Which is the best way to do this:

> (a) Build the query with "SELECT * ..." and after executing the query see if
> numRows()>0
> (b) Build the query with "SELECT count(*) ...", fetch the row and see if
> count>0

Either of these implies computing the entire query result set, which is
much more computation than you want. Instead do
SELECT * .... LIMIT 1
and then see if you got a row or not. Aside from not computing useless
rows, the LIMIT will bias the optimizer in favor of fast-start plans.

regards, tom lane