# How many rows do I have anyway?

> Have you ever wondered how many tuples you have in a relation? Normally to find out how many tuples you have you would do something like:
SELECT count(1) FROM…

Have you ever wondered how many tuples you have in a relation? Normally to find out how many tuples you have you would do something like: 
    
    
    SELECT count(1) FROM rows;
     count 
    -------
     10002

This will return the exact number, per your snapshot of committed tuples within a relation. It is also a guaranteed _sequence scan_ on the relation and a performance nightmare on large tables. So how do you get around it? Well it depends, if you **need** the exact amount of tuples within the relation, you don't. However if you only need an approximate number you can do this: 
    
    
    SELECT reltuples FROM pg_class 
       JOIN pg_namespace ON (pg_class.relnamespace = pg_namespace.oid) 
    WHERE nspname = '$namespace' 
    AND relname = '$tablename';
     reltuples 
    -----------
         10002

The above will result in the exact number of tuples that PostgreSQL knows to be in the relation. **Q.** How does PostgreSQL know how many tuples are in a relation? **A.** Why ANALYZE of course. When you ANALYZE the pg_class relation is updated with vital and directly pertinent information about your relations. Yet another reason to beat people over the head with the, **WHAT EVERY POSTGRESQL USER NEEDS TO KNOW.**

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