To get the count of a query without returning results, simply specify `pagesize=0`.


http://api.stackoverflow.com/0.9/users?filter=mike&sort=name&pagesize=0

    {
      "total": 1161,
      "page": 1,
      "pagesize": 0,
      "users": []
    }


`/search` seems to be an exception and likely a bug. see http://stackapps.com/questions/941