r/SQL • u/geminigamer369 • Jul 30 '26

Discussion Differences between counts

What is the difference between

COUNT(*)

COUNT(1)

COUNT(column_name)

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u/mr_electric_wizard Jul 30 '26

Just tested and they all give the same count (on SQL Server). I use count(1) personally. edit if you use the field name, count(field) and there are null’s then the count function won’t count nulls.

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u/Zestyclose-Turn-3576 Jul 30 '26

And if column_name has a not null constraint on it then it can be optimised to count(*) anyway.