数据库经常用于回答这个问题，“某个类型的数据在表中出现的频度?”例如，你可能想要知道你有多少宠物，或每位主人有多少宠物，或你可能想要对你的动物进行各种类型的普查。

计算你拥有动物的总数目与“在pet表中有多少行?”是同样的问题，因为每个宠物有一个记录。COUNT(*)函数计算行数，所以计算动物数目的查询应为：

mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM pet;
+----------+
| COUNT(*) |
+----------+
|        9 |
+----------+

• 在前面，你检索了拥有宠物的人的名字。如果你想要知道每个主人有多少宠物，你可以使用COUNT( )函数：

mysql> SELECT owner, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY owner;
+--------+----------+
| owner  | COUNT(*) |
+--------+----------+
| Benny  |        2 |
| Diane  |        2 |
| Gwen   |        3 |
| Harold |        2 |
+--------+----------+

注意，使用GROUP BY对每个owner的所有记录分组，没有它，你会得到错误消息：

mysql> SELECT owner, COUNT(*) FROM pet;
ERROR 1140 (42000): Mixing of GROUP columns (MIN(),MAX(),COUNT(),...) 
with no GROUP columns is illegal if there is no GROUP BY clause

COUNT( )和GROUP BY以各种方式分类你的数据。下列例子显示出进行动物普查操作的不同方式。

• 每种动物的数量：

mysql> SELECT species, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY species;
+---------+----------+
| species | COUNT(*) |
+---------+----------+
| bird    |        2 |
| cat     |        2 |
| dog     |        3 |
| hamster |        1 |
| snake   |        1 |
+---------+----------+

• 每种性别的动物数量：

mysql> SELECT sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY sex;
+------+----------+
| sex  | COUNT(*) |
+------+----------+
| NULL |        1 |
| f    |        4 |
| m    |        4 |
+------+----------+

（在这个输出中，NULL表示“未知性别”。）

• 按种类和性别组合的动物数量：

mysql> SELECT species, sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY species, sex;
+---------+------+----------+
| species | sex  | COUNT(*) |
+---------+------+----------+
| bird    | NULL |        1 |
| bird    | f    |        1 |
| cat     | f    |        1 |
| cat     | m    |        1 |
| dog     | f    |        1 |
| dog     | m    |        2 |
| hamster | f    |        1 |
| snake   | m    |        1 |
+---------+------+----------+

• 若使用COUNT( )，你不必检索整个表。例如, 前面的查询，当只对狗和猫进行时，应为：
  SELECT species, sex, COUNT() FROM pet GROUP BY species, sex;
  mysql> SELECT species, sex, COUNT() FROM pet
  -> WHERE species = 'dog' OR species = 'cat'
  -> GROUP BY species, sex;
  +---------+------+----------+
  | species | sex | COUNT() |
  +---------+------+----------+
  | cat | f | 1 |
  | cat | m | 1 |
  | dog | f | 1 |
  | dog | m | 2 |
  +---------+------+----------+
  SELECT species, sex, COUNT() FROM pet GROUP BY species, sex;

• 如果你仅需要知道已知性别的按性别的动物数目：

 SELECT species, sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY species, sex;
mysql> SELECT species, sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet
    -> WHERE sex IS NOT NULL
    -> GROUP BY species, sex;
+---------+------+----------+
| species | sex  | COUNT(*) |
+---------+------+----------+
| bird    | f    |        1 |
| cat     | f    |        1 |
| cat     | m    |        1 |
| dog     | f    |        1 |
| dog     | m    |        2 |
| hamster | f    |        1 |
| snake   | m    |        1 |
+---------+------+----------+