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What is the difference between select count(*) and select count(any_non_null_column)?

I have a column with the type of char(0). some of the rows are NULL and some of them are empty(''). The question is that when I run the following query, the result will be 0. SELECT count(id) FROM test WHERE id IS NULL

but when I run the following query, the result is correct: SELECT count(*) FROM test WHERE id IS NULL

I have one column,why is that the case?

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Alireza
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1 Answers1

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  • COUNT(somecolumn) ignores NULLs
  • COUNT(*) won't

You can see this with

SELECT count(id),count(*) FROM test WHERE id IS NULL

Coincidently, all aggregate functions ignore NULL except COUNT(*)

gbn
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