COUNT Function
An aggregate function that returns the number of rows, or the number of non-NULL
rows.
Syntax:
COUNT([DISTINCT | ALL] expression) [OVER (analytic_clause)]
Depending on the argument, COUNT()
considers rows that meet certain conditions:
-
The notation
COUNT(*)
includesNULL
values in the total. -
The notation
COUNT(column_name)
only considers rows where the column contains a non-NULL
value. -
You can also combine
COUNT
with theDISTINCT
operator to eliminate duplicates before counting, and to count the combinations of values across multiple columns.
When the query contains a GROUP BY
clause, returns one value for each combination of
grouping values.
Return type: BIGINT
Usage notes:
If you frequently run aggregate functions such as MIN()
,
MAX()
, and COUNT(DISTINCT)
on partition key columns,
consider enabling the OPTIMIZE_PARTITION_KEY_SCANS
query option, which
optimizes such queries. This feature is available in Impala 2.5
and higher. See OPTIMIZE_PARTITION_KEY_SCANS Query Option (Impala 2.5 or higher only) for the
kinds of queries that this option applies to, and slight differences in how partitions
are evaluated when this query option is enabled.
Complex type considerations:
To access a column with a complex type (ARRAY
, STRUCT
,
or MAP
) in an aggregation function, you unpack the individual elements
using join notation in the query, and then apply the function to the final scalar item,
field, key, or value at the bottom of any nested type hierarchy in the column. See
Complex Types (Impala 2.3 or higher only) for details about using
complex types in Impala.
ARRAY
of
STRUCT
items). The array is unpacked inside the query using join
notation. The array elements are referenced using the ITEM
pseudocolumn, and the structure fields inside the array elements are referenced using
dot notation. Numeric values such as SUM()
and AVG()
are computed using the numeric R_NATIONKEY
field, and the
general-purpose MAX()
and MIN()
values are computed
from the string N_NAME
field.
describe region;
+-------------+-------------------------+---------+
| name | type | comment |
+-------------+-------------------------+---------+
| r_regionkey | smallint | |
| r_name | string | |
| r_comment | string | |
| r_nations | array<struct< | |
| | n_nationkey:smallint, | |
| | n_name:string, | |
| | n_comment:string | |
| | >> | |
+-------------+-------------------------+---------+
select r_name, r_nations.item.n_nationkey
from region, region.r_nations as r_nations
order by r_name, r_nations.item.n_nationkey;
+-------------+------------------+
| r_name | item.n_nationkey |
+-------------+------------------+
| AFRICA | 0 |
| AFRICA | 5 |
| AFRICA | 14 |
| AFRICA | 15 |
| AFRICA | 16 |
| AMERICA | 1 |
| AMERICA | 2 |
| AMERICA | 3 |
| AMERICA | 17 |
| AMERICA | 24 |
| ASIA | 8 |
| ASIA | 9 |
| ASIA | 12 |
| ASIA | 18 |
| ASIA | 21 |
| EUROPE | 6 |
| EUROPE | 7 |
| EUROPE | 19 |
| EUROPE | 22 |
| EUROPE | 23 |
| MIDDLE EAST | 4 |
| MIDDLE EAST | 10 |
| MIDDLE EAST | 11 |
| MIDDLE EAST | 13 |
| MIDDLE EAST | 20 |
+-------------+------------------+
select
r_name,
count(r_nations.item.n_nationkey) as count,
sum(r_nations.item.n_nationkey) as sum,
avg(r_nations.item.n_nationkey) as avg,
min(r_nations.item.n_name) as minimum,
max(r_nations.item.n_name) as maximum,
ndv(r_nations.item.n_nationkey) as distinct_vals
from
region, region.r_nations as r_nations
group by r_name
order by r_name;
+-------------+-------+-----+------+-----------+----------------+---------------+
| r_name | count | sum | avg | minimum | maximum | distinct_vals |
+-------------+-------+-----+------+-----------+----------------+---------------+
| AFRICA | 5 | 50 | 10 | ALGERIA | MOZAMBIQUE | 5 |
| AMERICA | 5 | 47 | 9.4 | ARGENTINA | UNITED STATES | 5 |
| ASIA | 5 | 68 | 13.6 | CHINA | VIETNAM | 5 |
| EUROPE | 5 | 77 | 15.4 | FRANCE | UNITED KINGDOM | 5 |
| MIDDLE EAST | 5 | 58 | 11.6 | EGYPT | SAUDI ARABIA | 5 |
+-------------+-------+-----+------+-----------+----------------+---------------+
Examples:
-- How many rows total are in the table, regardless of NULL values?
select count(*) from t1;
-- How many rows are in the table with non-NULL values for a column?
select count(c1) from t1;
-- Count the rows that meet certain conditions.
-- Again, * includes NULLs, so COUNT(*) might be greater than COUNT(col).
select count(*) from t1 where x > 10;
select count(c1) from t1 where x > 10;
-- Can also be used in combination with DISTINCT and/or GROUP BY.
-- Combine COUNT and DISTINCT to find the number of unique values.
-- Must use column names rather than * with COUNT(DISTINCT ...) syntax.
-- Rows with NULL values are not counted.
select count(distinct c1) from t1;
-- Rows with a NULL value in _either_ column are not counted.
select count(distinct c1, c2) from t1;
-- Return more than one result.
select month, year, count(distinct visitor_id) from web_stats group by month, year;
COUNT()
in an analytic context. They use a table
containing integers from 1 to 10. Notice how the COUNT()
is reported for each input value, as
opposed to the GROUP BY
clause which condenses the result set.
select x, property, count(x) over (partition by property) as count from int_t where property in ('odd','even');
+----+----------+-------+
| x | property | count |
+----+----------+-------+
| 2 | even | 5 |
| 4 | even | 5 |
| 6 | even | 5 |
| 8 | even | 5 |
| 10 | even | 5 |
| 1 | odd | 5 |
| 3 | odd | 5 |
| 5 | odd | 5 |
| 7 | odd | 5 |
| 9 | odd | 5 |
+----+----------+-------+
Adding an ORDER BY
clause lets you experiment with results that are cumulative or apply to a moving
set of rows (the "window"). The following examples use COUNT()
in an analytic context
(that is, with an OVER()
clause) to produce a running count of all the even values,
then a running count of all the odd values. The basic ORDER BY x
clause implicitly
activates a window clause of RANGE BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW
,
which is effectively the same as ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW
,
therefore all of these examples produce the same results:
select x, property,
count(x) over (partition by property order by x) as 'cumulative count'
from int_t where property in ('odd','even');
+----+----------+------------------+
| x | property | cumulative count |
+----+----------+------------------+
| 2 | even | 1 |
| 4 | even | 2 |
| 6 | even | 3 |
| 8 | even | 4 |
| 10 | even | 5 |
| 1 | odd | 1 |
| 3 | odd | 2 |
| 5 | odd | 3 |
| 7 | odd | 4 |
| 9 | odd | 5 |
+----+----------+------------------+
select x, property,
count(x) over
(
partition by property
order by x
range between unbounded preceding and current row
) as 'cumulative total'
from int_t where property in ('odd','even');
+----+----------+------------------+
| x | property | cumulative count |
+----+----------+------------------+
| 2 | even | 1 |
| 4 | even | 2 |
| 6 | even | 3 |
| 8 | even | 4 |
| 10 | even | 5 |
| 1 | odd | 1 |
| 3 | odd | 2 |
| 5 | odd | 3 |
| 7 | odd | 4 |
| 9 | odd | 5 |
+----+----------+------------------+
select x, property,
count(x) over
(
partition by property
order by x
rows between unbounded preceding and current row
) as 'cumulative total'
from int_t where property in ('odd','even');
+----+----------+------------------+
| x | property | cumulative count |
+----+----------+------------------+
| 2 | even | 1 |
| 4 | even | 2 |
| 6 | even | 3 |
| 8 | even | 4 |
| 10 | even | 5 |
| 1 | odd | 1 |
| 3 | odd | 2 |
| 5 | odd | 3 |
| 7 | odd | 4 |
| 9 | odd | 5 |
+----+----------+------------------+
The following examples show how to construct a moving window, with a running count taking into account 1 row before
and 1 row after the current row, within the same partition (all the even values or all the odd values).
Therefore, the count is consistently 3 for rows in the middle of the window, and 2 for
rows near the ends of the window, where there is no preceding or no following row in the partition.
Because of a restriction in the Impala RANGE
syntax, this type of
moving window is possible with the ROWS BETWEEN
clause but not the RANGE BETWEEN
clause:
select x, property,
count(x) over
(
partition by property
order by x
rows between 1 preceding and 1 following
) as 'moving total'
from int_t where property in ('odd','even');
+----+----------+--------------+
| x | property | moving total |
+----+----------+--------------+
| 2 | even | 2 |
| 4 | even | 3 |
| 6 | even | 3 |
| 8 | even | 3 |
| 10 | even | 2 |
| 1 | odd | 2 |
| 3 | odd | 3 |
| 5 | odd | 3 |
| 7 | odd | 3 |
| 9 | odd | 2 |
+----+----------+--------------+
-- Doesn't work because of syntax restriction on RANGE clause.
select x, property,
count(x) over
(
partition by property
order by x
range between 1 preceding and 1 following
) as 'moving total'
from int_t where property in ('odd','even');
ERROR: AnalysisException: RANGE is only supported with both the lower and upper bounds UNBOUNDED or one UNBOUNDED and the other CURRENT ROW.
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