Re: SELECT COUNT(APPROXIMATELY *) FROM a WHERE b=c;

Scott Mattes wrote:

> One reason might be that between the time the count ends and the result is
> displayed any number of other transactions will/might have occurred that
> Inserted more records that could match the select or records that matched
> were Deleted.
>
> "Monty" <mmontreaux_at_hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:6284dd3.0206100532.24373c8f_at_posting.google.com...
> > Hello, every now and then I go to a website, perform a search, and it
> > comes back and says "found APPROXIMATELY ? records".
> >
> > A case in point is "http://asktom.oracle.com" (click on
> > Search/Archives, type in something in the search box, and press go)
> > and I am probably not wrong in assuming there is an Oracle database
> > behind this web site.
> >
> > How can an SQL search be formulated to find approximately the number
> > of hits (which I'm assuming is just a quick preview of a very large
> > database with a query before actually doing the 'real' query) ?
> >
> > Monty

I'm not sure what is going on with respect to what is described here.

But, in Oracle, one a query has begun ... no amount of inserts or deletes can affect the query result. Not even truncating the table.

Daniel Morgan Received on Mon Jun 10 2002 - 10:57:17 CDT