How to COUNT rows within EntityFramework without loading contents?

This is my code:

IQueryable<AuctionRecord> records = db.AuctionRecord;
var count = records.Count();

Make sure the variable is defined as IQueryable then when you use Count() method, EF will execute something like

select count(*) from ...

Otherwise, if the records is defined as IEnumerable, the sql generated will query the entire table and count rows returned.

Query syntax:

var count = (from o in context.MyContainer
             where o.ID == '1'
             from t in o.MyTable
             select t).Count();

Method syntax:

var count = context.MyContainer
            .Where(o => o.ID == '1')
            .SelectMany(o => o.MyTable)
            .Count()

Both generate the same SQL query.

As I understand it, the selected answer still loads all of the related tests. According to this msdn blog, there is a better way.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2011/01/31/using-dbcontext-in-ef-feature-ctp5-part-6-loading-related-entities.aspx

Specifically

using (var context = new UnicornsContext())

    var princess = context.Princesses.Find(1);

    // Count how many unicorns the princess owns 
    var unicornHaul = context.Entry(princess)
                      .Collection(p => p.Unicorns)
                      .Query()
                      .Count();
}

I think you want something like

var count = context.MyTable.Count(t => t.MyContainer.ID == '1');

(edited to reflect comments)