determine the number of rows for each table in the db

-- i like this best
SELECT t.name, SUM(rows) AS Rows
FROM sys.tables t JOIN sys.partitions p ON t.object_id = p.object_id
WHERE p.index_id IN(0,1) and t.name like 'tbl%'
GROUP BY t.name


-- can be used but only 100 can be displayed
sp_msforeachtable 'select ''?'', count (*) from ?'