如果将 count(*) 和 group by 一起使用,count(*) 统计的将会是每个 group 里面的行数,而不是 group 的个数。
如果你想统计 group 的个数,需要将 group by 查询放到子查询里面,然后在主查询里面再使用 count(*)。
如下所示,第一个查询的 count(*) 统计的只是特定的 Category 和 Year 下的总行数,而第二个查询才是第一个查询的 group 的个数。
mysql> SELECT tag AS Category, YEAR(created) AS Year, COUNT(*) AS Counts FROM fyi_links GROUP BY tag, YEAR(created); +----------+------+--------+ | Category | Year | Counts | +----------+------+--------+ | DBA | 2005 | 1 | | DBA | 2006 | 2 | | DEV | 2004 | 1 | | DEV | 2006 | 1 | | SQA | 2003 | 1 | | SQA | 2006 | 1 | +----------+------+--------+ 6 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ( SELECT tag AS Category, YEAR(created) AS Year, COUNT(*) AS Counts FROM fyi_links GROUP BY tag, YEAR(created) ) groups; +----------+ | COUNT(*) | +----------+ | 6 | +----------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)