I'm trying to build a query or a PL/SQL code to both execute a query, as well as return the number of results of this query.
Is this possible in a single query? Right now I feel like I'm being very wasteful: I first wrap the query in a COUNT (without ORDER BY) and then run the same query again (without the COUNT). A difference of a few seconds will probably not change the total number of rows, I can live with that. The DB I'm using is Oracle Enterprise 12.2
An easy SQL way: a test table:
create table testTable(a, b, c) as (
select 1, 'one', 'XX' from dual UNION ALL
select 2, 'two', 'YY' from dual UNION ALL
select 3, 'three', 'ZZ' from dual
)
A simple query:
select a, b, c
from testTable
A B C
---------- ----- --
1 one XX
2 two YY
3 three ZZ
3 rows selected.
The query with the number of records :
select a, b, c, count(*) over (partition by 1) as count
from testTable
A B C COUNT
---------- ----- -- ----------
1 one XX 3
2 two YY 3
3 three ZZ 3
3 rows selected.
You can try to do something like:
WITH test_query
AS (SELECT LEVEL just_a_number
FROM dual
CONNECT BY level < 101)
SELECT just_a_number
, COUNT(just_a_number) OVER (ORDER BY 1) total_count
FROM test_query;
Where COUNT(just_a_number) OVER (ORDER BY 1) will return total number of rows fetched in each row. Note that it may slow down the query.
Typically, when I do something like this, I create a stored procedure that returns 2 values. The first would be the result set as a REF CURSOR, and the other a number(12,0) returning the count. Both would of course require separate queries, but since it is in a single stored procedure, it is only one database connection and command being executed.
You are of course right for having your COUNT query forgo the ORDER BY clause.
To answer your question, you are not being wasteful per se. This is common practice in enterprise software.
