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COUNT (Transact-SQL) | Microsoft Docs

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COUNT

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totals [SQL Server]

counting items in group

groups [SQL Server], number of items in

number of group items

COUNT function [Transact-SQL]

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COUNT (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDEtsql-appliesto-ss2008-all_md]

Returns the number of items in a group. COUNT works like the COUNT_BIG function. The only difference between the two functions is their return values. COUNT always returns an int data type value. COUNT_BIG always returns a bigint data type value.

Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

-- Syntax for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database  
  
COUNT ( { [ [ ALL | DISTINCT ] expression ] | * } )   
    [ OVER (   
        [ partition_by_clause ]   
        [ order_by_clause ]   
        [ ROW_or_RANGE_clause ]  
    ) ]

-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse  
  
-- Aggregation Function Syntax  
COUNT ( { [ [ ALL | DISTINCT ] expression ] | * } )  

-- Analytic Function Syntax  
COUNT ( { expression | * } ) OVER ( [ <partition_by_clause> ] )

Arguments

ALL
Applies the aggregate function to all values. ALL is the default.

DISTINCT
Specifies that COUNT returns the number of unique nonnull values.

expression
Is an expression of any type except text, image, or ntext. Aggregate functions and subqueries are not permitted.

*
Specifies that all rows should be counted to return the total number of rows in a table. COUNT(*) takes no parameters and cannot be used with DISTINCT. COUNT(*) does not require an expression parameter because, by definition, it does not use information about any particular column. COUNT(*) returns the number of rows in a specified table without getting rid of duplicates. It counts each row separately. This includes rows that contain null values.

OVER ( [ partition_by_clause ] [ order_by_clause ] [ ROW_or_RANGE_clause ] )
partition_by_clause divides the result set produced by the FROM clause into partitions to which the function is applied. If not specified, the function treats all rows of the query result set as a single group. order_by_clause determines the logical order in which the operation is performed. For more information, see OVER Clause (Transact-SQL).

Return types

int

Remarks

COUNT(*) returns the number of items in a group. This includes NULL values and duplicates.

COUNT(ALL expression) evaluates expression for each row in a group and returns the number of nonnull values.

COUNT(DISTINCT expression) evaluates expression for each row in a group and returns the number of unique, nonnull values.

For return values greater than 2^31-1, COUNT produces an error. Use COUNT_BIG instead.

COUNT is a deterministic function when used without the OVER and ORDER BY clauses. It is nondeterministic when specified with the OVER and ORDER BY clauses. For more information, see Deterministic and Nondeterministic Functions.

Examples

A. Using COUNT and DISTINCT

The following example lists the number of different titles that an employee who works at [!INCLUDEssSampleDBCoFull] can hold.

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Title)  
FROM HumanResources.Employee;  
GO

[!INCLUDEssResult]

-----------

67

(1 row(s) affected)

B. Using COUNT(*)

The following example finds the total number of employees who work at [!INCLUDEssSampleDBCoFull].

SELECT COUNT(*)  
FROM HumanResources.Employee;  
GO

[!INCLUDEssResult]

-----------

290

(1 row(s) affected)

C. Using COUNT(*) with other aggregates

The following example shows that COUNT(*) can be combined with other aggregate functions in the select list. The example uses the [!INCLUDEssSampleDBnormal] database.

SELECT COUNT(*), AVG(Bonus)  
FROM Sales.SalesPerson  
WHERE SalesQuota > 25000;  
GO

[!INCLUDEssResult]

----------- ---------------------

14 3472.1428

(1 row(s) affected)

C. Using the OVER clause

The following example uses the MIN, MAX, AVG and COUNT functions with the OVER clause to provide aggregated values for each department in the HumanResources.Department table in the [!INCLUDEssSampleDBnormal] database.

SELECT DISTINCT Name  
       , MIN(Rate) OVER (PARTITION BY edh.DepartmentID) AS MinSalary  
       , MAX(Rate) OVER (PARTITION BY edh.DepartmentID) AS MaxSalary  
       , AVG(Rate) OVER (PARTITION BY edh.DepartmentID) AS AvgSalary  
       ,COUNT(edh.BusinessEntityID) OVER (PARTITION BY edh.DepartmentID) AS EmployeesPerDept  
FROM HumanResources.EmployeePayHistory AS eph  
JOIN HumanResources.EmployeeDepartmentHistory AS edh  
     ON eph.BusinessEntityID = edh.BusinessEntityID  
JOIN HumanResources.Department AS d  
ON d.DepartmentID = edh.DepartmentID
WHERE edh.EndDate IS NULL  
ORDER BY Name;

[!INCLUDEssResult]

Name                          MinSalary             MaxSalary             AvgSalary             EmployeesPerDept  
----------------------------- --------------------- --------------------- --------------------- ----------------  
Document Control              10.25                 17.7885               14.3884               5  
Engineering                   32.6923               63.4615               40.1442               6  
Executive                     39.06                 125.50                68.3034               4  
Facilities and Maintenance    9.25                  24.0385               13.0316               7  
Finance                       13.4615               43.2692               23.935                10  
Human Resources               13.9423               27.1394               18.0248               6  
Information Services          27.4038               50.4808               34.1586               10  
Marketing                     13.4615               37.50                 18.4318               11  
Production                    6.50                  84.1346               13.5537               195  
Production Control            8.62                  24.5192               16.7746               8  
Purchasing                    9.86                  30.00                 18.0202               14  
Quality Assurance             10.5769               28.8462               15.4647               6  
Research and Development      40.8654               50.4808               43.6731               4  
Sales                         23.0769               72.1154               29.9719               18  
Shipping and Receiving        9.00                  19.2308               10.8718               6  
Tool Design                   8.62                  29.8462               23.5054               6  
  
(16 row(s) affected)

Examples: [!INCLUDEssSDWfull] and [!INCLUDEssPDW]

D. Using COUNT and DISTINCT

The following example lists the number of different titles that an employee who works at a specific company can hold.

USE ssawPDW;  
  
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Title)  
FROM dbo.DimEmployee;

[!INCLUDEssResult]

-----------

67

E. Using COUNT(*)

The following example returns the total number of rows in the dbo.DimEmployee table.

USE ssawPDW;  
  
SELECT COUNT(*)  
FROM dbo.DimEmployee;

[!INCLUDEssResult]

-------------

296

F. Using COUNT(*) with other aggregates

The following example combines COUNT(*) with other aggregate functions in the SELECT list. The query returns the number of sales representatives with a annual sales quota greater than $500,000 and the average sales quota.

USE ssawPDW;  
  
SELECT COUNT(EmployeeKey) AS TotalCount, AVG(SalesAmountQuota) AS [Average Sales Quota]  
FROM dbo.FactSalesQuota  
WHERE SalesAmountQuota > 500000 AND CalendarYear = 2001;

[!INCLUDEssResult]

TotalCount Average Sales Quota

---------- -------------------

10 683800.0000

G. Using COUNT with HAVING

The following example uses COUNT with the HAVING clause to return the departments in a company that have more than 15 employees.

USE ssawPDW;  
  
SELECT DepartmentName,   
       COUNT(EmployeeKey)AS EmployeesInDept  
FROM dbo.DimEmployee  
GROUP BY DepartmentName  
HAVING COUNT(EmployeeKey) > 15;

[!INCLUDEssResult]

DepartmentName EmployeesInDept

-------------- ---------------

Sales 18

Production 179

H. Using COUNT with OVER

The following example uses COUNT with the OVER clause to return the number of products that are contained in each of the specified sales orders.

USE ssawPDW;  
  
SELECT DISTINCT COUNT(ProductKey) OVER(PARTITION BY SalesOrderNumber) AS ProductCount  
    ,SalesOrderNumber  
FROM dbo.FactInternetSales  
WHERE SalesOrderNumber IN (N'SO53115',N'SO55981');

[!INCLUDEssResult]

ProductCount SalesOrderID

------------ -----------------

3 SO53115

1 SO55981

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COUNT (Transact-SQL)

Syntax

Arguments

Return types

Remarks

Examples

A. Using COUNT and DISTINCT

B. Using COUNT(*)

C. Using COUNT(*) with other aggregates

C. Using the OVER clause

Examples: [!INCLUDEssSDWfull] and [!INCLUDEssPDW]

D. Using COUNT and DISTINCT

E. Using COUNT(*)

F. Using COUNT(*) with other aggregates

G. Using COUNT with HAVING

H. Using COUNT with OVER

See also

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COUNT (Transact-SQL)

Syntax

Arguments

Return types

Remarks

Examples

A. Using COUNT and DISTINCT

B. Using COUNT(*)

C. Using COUNT(*) with other aggregates

C. Using the OVER clause

Examples: [!INCLUDEssSDWfull] and [!INCLUDEssPDW]

D. Using COUNT and DISTINCT

E. Using COUNT(*)

F. Using COUNT(*) with other aggregates

G. Using COUNT with HAVING

H. Using COUNT with OVER

See also