Counting the number of deleted rows in a SQL Server stored procedure

In SQL Server 2005, is there a way of deleting rows and being told how many were actually deleted?

I could do a select count(*) with the same conditions, but I need this to be utterly trustworthy.

My first guess was to use the @@ROWCOUNT variables - but that isn't set, e.g.

delete 
from mytable 
where datefield = '5-Oct-2008' 

select @@ROWCOUNT 

always returns a 0.

MSDN suggests the OUTPUT construction, e.g.

delete from mytable 
where datefield = '5-Oct-2008' 
output datefield into #doomed

select count(*) 
from #doomed

this actually fails with a syntax error.

Any ideas?

Solution 1:

Have you tried SET NOCOUNT OFF?

Solution 2:

I use @@ROWCOUNT for this exact purpose in SQL2000 with no issues. Make sure that you're not inadvertantly resetting this count before checking it though (BOL: 'This variable is set to 0 by any statement that does not return rows, such as an IF statement').