>If I understand correctly, using _TALLY after a query will always give me the right value, right?

It gives you the number of records in the result set of the last SELECT-SQL.

>What do I use if I want the number of records in an opened table?
>1-SELECT * from alias_name TO SCREEN NOCONSOLE and then use _tally OR
>2-RECCOUNT("alias_name")

_TALLY if you want the number of records selected.
RECCOUNT() if you want the number of records in the source table.

Vlad