Using the COUNT Function
The COUNT function has three formats:
COUNT(*)
COUNT(expr)
COUNT(DISTINCT expr)
COUNT(*) returns the number of rows in a table that satisfy the criteria of the SELECT statement, including duplicate rows and rows containing null values in any of the columns.
If a WHERE clause is included in the SELECT statement, COUNT(*) returns the number of rows that satisfy the condition in the WHERE clause.
In contrast,
COUNT(expr) returns the number of non-null values that are in the column identified by expr.
COUNT(DISTINCT expr) returns the number of unique, non-null values that are in the column identified by expr.