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count(rowid) vs count(*)

From: Roger Jackson <rjackson_at_wire.net.au>
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 19:54:07 +1000
Message-ID: <7mcemf$pl3$1@caley.wire.net.au> 





Hi,



I was reading an article just recently which stipulated that you should not
use count(*) to determine the number of rows in a table, but use count(1) or
count(ROWID) instead.  These options are faster because they bypass some
unnecessary operations in Oracle's SQL processing mechanism.



Can somebody explain to me why this would be faster and what mechanisms are
bypassed.




TIA


Roger


Received on Mon Jul 12 1999 - 04:54:07 CDT












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