Aspects of the present disclosure relate to an approach for generating query execution plans for a database query. A computer-implemented method comprises determining whether a size of a file to be generated during execution of a database query is variable in response to obtaining the database query. The method further comprises determining a plurality of ranges for the size of the file in response to determining that the size of the file is variable. The method further comprises generating a plurality of query execution plans corresponding to the plurality of ranges. Accordingly, a plurality of query execution plans corresponding to different file sizes can be generated for the database query, and an efficient and cost effective query execution plan may be selected based on the actual file size during the execution of the database query.