Are COUNT and DISTINCT SQL-92 compliant?
I need to know whether the SQL functions COUNT and DISTINCT are SQL-92 compliant or not. That is, if I'm using an SQL-92 compliant database, may I expect them to be supported?
Yes, but watch out for the nuances.
COUNT(*) is the number of rows, without regard for the contents of any column.
COUNT([ALL] expression) is the number of non-null values of the expression -- usually a column name. ALL is the default, so it's not necessary. You see it used typically like COUNT(foobar) where foobar is a column -- the result is the number of non-null values.
COUNT(DISTINCT expression) is the number if distinct non-null values.
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