Question

How to list row count of each table in the database. Some equivalent of

select count(*) from table1
select count(*) from table2
...
select count(*) from tableN

I will post a solution but other approaches are welcome

Answer 1

If you’re using SQL Server 2005 and up, you can also use this:

SELECT 
    t.NAME AS TableName,
    i.name as indexName,
    p.[Rows],
    sum(a.total_pages) as TotalPages, 
    sum(a.used_pages) as UsedPages, 
    sum(a.data_pages) as DataPages,
    (sum(a.total_pages) * 8) / 1024 as TotalSpaceMB, 
    (sum(a.used_pages) * 8) / 1024 as UsedSpaceMB, 
    (sum(a.data_pages) * 8) / 1024 as DataSpaceMB
FROM 
    sys.tables t
INNER JOIN      
    sys.indexes i ON t.OBJECT_ID = i.object_id
INNER JOIN 
    sys.partitions p ON i.object_id = p.OBJECT_ID AND i.index_id = p.index_id
INNER JOIN 
    sys.allocation_units a ON p.partition_id = a.container_id
WHERE 
    t.NAME NOT LIKE 'dt%' AND
    i.OBJECT_ID > 255 AND   
    i.index_id <= 1
GROUP BY 
    t.NAME, i.object_id, i.index_id, i.name, p.[Rows]
ORDER BY 
    object_name(i.object_id) 

In my opinion, it’s easier to handle than the sp_msforeachtable output.