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SQL COUNT() Function

The COUNT() function returns the number of rows that matches a specified criteria.

SQL COUNT(column_name) Syntax

The COUNT(column_name) function returns the number of values (NULL values will not be counted) of the specified column:

SELECT COUNT(column_name) FROM table_name;

SQL COUNT(*) Syntax

The COUNT(*) function returns the number of records in a table:

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_name;

SQL COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) Syntax

The COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) function returns the number of distinct values of the specified column:

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) FROM table_name;

Note: COUNT(DISTINCT) works with ORACLE and Microsoft SQL Server, but not with Microsoft Access.

Demo Database

In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Orders" table:

OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID
10265 7 2 1996-07-25 1
10266 87 3 1996-07-26 3
10267 25 4 1996-07-29 1

SQL COUNT(column_name) Example

The following SQL statement counts the number of orders from "CustomerID"=7 from the "Orders" table:

Example

SELECT COUNT(CustomerID) AS OrdersFromCustomerID7 FROM Orders
WHERE CustomerID=7;

Try it yourself »

SQL COUNT(*) Example

The following SQL statement omits the WHERE clause and counts the total number of orders from the "Orders" table:

Example

SELECT COUNT(*) AS NumberOfOrders FROM Orders;

Try it yourself »

SQL COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) Example

Now we want to count the number of unique customers in the "Orders" table.

We use the following SQL statement:

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT CustomerID) AS NumberOfCustomers FROM Orders;

The result-set will look like this:

NumberOfCustomers
89

which is the number of unique customers in the "Orders" table.


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