Hi, To check whether a record exists I'm using this: exist (ZSQL method): SELECT count(*) as I FROM ... WHERE ... ; Python Script: for x in exist(m_id=m_id): if x.i==0: print "no data" else: print "there are some data" This works... but it's strange to use "for" for it... is there a simpler method? Just an "if", wthout "for"? I tried to adapt the "exist" ZSQL to show a column from the table: exist2 (ZSQL method): SELECT count(*) as I, fname FROM ... WHERE ... ; It fails and it recommends to put "fname" into GROUP BY. So: exist3 (ZSQL method): SELECT count(*) as I, fname FROM ... WHERE ... GROUP BY fname; That works but IMHO it's a very ugly hack and it may breed trouble later on. Is there a more elegant way to get both values and number of values using a single ZSQL method? -- Milos Prudek