Knowing the total number of posts before to get into the loop
functions.php: function wpse8170_get_posts_count() { global $wp_query; return $wp_query->post_count; } index.php: if (have_posts()) : echo ‘<h1>’ . wpse8170_get_posts_count() . ‘ Posts Found</h1>’; while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); //… endwhile; endif;