RowCount

Returns the number of rows in a rowset. Runtime-proven on a live Marketing Cloud Engagement CloudPage — including that it returns zero for an empty rowset and never aborts.

Engagement Next

Runtime verified Test scripts included

Syntax

RowCount(rowset)  →  number

1 argument — exactly

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
rowset	rowset	Yes	A rowset from LookupRows, LookupOrderedRows, ExecuteFilter, or a BuildRowsetFrom* function

Example

%%[
  VAR @rows
  SET @rows = LookupRows("AMP_VERIFY_SCRATCH", "FirstName", "Alice")
]%%
Matches: %%=v(RowCount(@rows))=%%

With two Alice rows, renders Matches: 2.

Because it returns 0 rather than aborting on an empty rowset, it is the safe guard before reading any row:

%%[
  VAR @rows
  SET @rows = LookupRows("AMP_VERIFY_SCRATCH", "FirstName", "Alice")
  IF RowCount(@rows) > 0 THEN
]%%
    First: %%=v(Field(Row(@rows, 1), "Id"))=%%
%%[ ENDIF ]%%

Return value

number — the count of rows in the rowset, 0 for an empty one.

There is no sentinel: the result is a bare non-negative integer.

Behaviour

Counts the rows in a rowset. A populated rowset from LookupRows("AMP_VERIFY_SCRATCH", "FirstName", "Alice") returned 2.

Returns zero for an empty rowset and never aborts. RowCount(LookupRows("AMP_VERIFY_SCRATCH", "FirstName", "Zoltan")) returned 0, making it the correct pre-read guard when a lookup may match nothing.

Show test script

%%[
  VAR @b
  SET @b = RequestParameter("b")

  IF @b == "zzz" THEN
    OutputLine(Concat("CTRL=[alive]"))
  ENDIF

  IF @b == "safe" THEN
    DeleteData("AMP_VERIFY_SCRATCH", "Id", "A1")
    DeleteData("AMP_VERIFY_SCRATCH", "Id", "A3")
    InsertData("AMP_VERIFY_SCRATCH", "Id", "A1", "FirstName", "Alice", "Score", 10)
    InsertData("AMP_VERIFY_SCRATCH", "Id", "A3", "FirstName", "Alice", "Score", 30)

    /* count of a populated rowset */
    OutputLine(Concat("RowCount(match)=[", RowCount(LookupRows("AMP_VERIFY_SCRATCH", "FirstName", "Alice")), "]"))
    /* count of an empty rowset - returns 0, never aborts */
    OutputLine(Concat("RowCount(empty)=[", RowCount(LookupRows("AMP_VERIFY_SCRATCH", "FirstName", "Zoltan")), "]"))
  ENDIF
]%%

OutputLine needs Concat

OutputLine given a bare string literal renders an empty line. Wrap the argument in Concat() or your start and done markers vanish silently — which looks exactly like the function failing.

Availability

Platform	Available
Marketing Cloud Engagement	Yes
Marketing Cloud Next	Yes, from API 67.0

See also

• LookupRows — produces the rowset to count
• Row · Field — read a counted rowset
• DataExtensionRowCount — counts every row in a data extension by name
• Official reference · ampscript.guide