%rowcount problem

hi friends

The below procedure is exeecuting properly and displaying 37 records from SQLPLUS.
But the problem is The %rowcount in the procedure is showing only 0(Zero).
can u please help why it is returning 0 instead of 37 .

PROCEDURE p_region(chFlag VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'C',norecords out number,
pc_Region IN OUT pkg_fe_base_dw.rc_datawindow ) IS
BEGIN
-- v_count := 0;
OPEN pc_Region FOR
SELECT rd_dv_cd,
rd_rg_cd,
rd_rg_sdesc,
rd_rg_ldesc,
nvl(ud_user_name,rd_created_by) rd_created_by,
rd_created_dt,
rd_end_dt, chFlag
FROM rtl_region_def a, rtl_user_Def z
WHERE ((chFlag='C' AND rd_end_dt IS NULL) OR (chFlag='H'))
AND a.rd_created_By = z.ud_user_id (+)
AND nvl(ud_most_recent_flag,'Y')='Y'
ORDER BY rd_rg_cd;
norecords := pc_region%rowcount;
--norecords := 1000;
dbms_output.put_line('no of records:-'|| pc_region%rowcount);
--If pc_region%rowcount = 0 then
--dbms_output.PUT_LINE(pc_region%rowcount);
--else
--bms_output.PUT_LINE('No Records to fetch');
--null;
--end if;
END;
END;
/


Thanks in advance.
preethamnorecords := pc_region%rowcount; 14 ariel

This procedure just opens the cursor and does not fetch any record. The%rowcount attribute shows the number of records fetched from the cursor. After opening the cursor and before fetching records it is 0.

hi
then how can i get the no of records with this procedure.
Regards
suresh

As akkerend rightly pointed out, you need to fetch from the cursor to get the rowcount. You could try something like this:

declare
a varchar2(1) := null;
cursor c is
select * from dual;
BEGIN
open c;
dbms_output.put_line('no of records before fetch statement: '|| c%rowcount);
fetch c into a;
dbms_output.put_line('no of records after fetch statement: '|| c%rowcount);
END;