What's the most efficient way to check if a record exists in Oracle?

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A) 

select decode(count(*), 0, 'N', 'Y') rec_exists
from (select 'X'
      from dual
      where exists (select 'X'
                    from sales
                    where sales_type = 'Accessories'));

B)

select decode(count(*), 0, 'N', 'Y') rec_exists
from (select 'X'
      from sales
      where sales_type = 'Accessories');

C) Something else (specify)

EDIT: It was hard to pick the "correct" answer, as the best approach depends on what you want to do after checking if the value exists, as pointed out by APC. I ended up picking the answer by RedFilter, since I had originally envisioned this check as a function by itself.

oracle sql
10 Answers
select CASE 
when exists (SELECT U.USERID,U.USERNAME,U.PASSWORDHASH
FROM  TBLUSERS U WHERE U.USERID =U.USERID 
AND U.PASSWORDHASH=U.PASSWORDHASH) 
then 'OLD PASSWORD EXISTS' 
else 'OLD PASSWORD NOT EXISTS' 
end as OUTPUT
from DUAL;
user_62784400
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