Best Way to check that table is empty

[padders]

I can't help but notice that line 14 appears to have a small but significant cost. I wonder what happens on that line?

[gandolf989]

I can't help but notice that line 14 appears to have a small but significant cost. I wonder what happens on that line?

That small but insignificant cost is the fetch into the explicit cursor.
But for most systems all three methods are equally valid, IMHO.

[tamilselvan]

Thanks

Line 46 (select) is faster than line 30 (select count(*)).
This is what I expected.

Tamil

[DaPi]

I'd still maintain that, in most cases, select count(*) is more efficient in human terms - less coding and somewhat easier to understand when you return to it two years hence - unless you spend half a screen explaining why you need that cursor!

[gandolf989]

The results prove that they are equal.

use_explicit_cursor returned TRUE!!!
use_explicit_cursor Time (seconds) 0
use_select_into returned TRUE!!!
use_select_into_1 Time (seconds) 0
use_select_into returned TRUE!!!
use_select_into_2 Time (seconds) 0

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.00

[marist89]

Elapsed: 00:00:00.00

Haven't we learned before that elapsed time means nothing? The trace matters.