elasticsearch/docs/reference/query-languages/esql/_snippets/functions/count.md

COUNT [esql-count]

Syntax

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Parameters

field

Expression that outputs values to be counted. If omitted, equivalent to COUNT(*) (the number of rows).

Description

Returns the total number (count) of input values.

Supported types

field	result
boolean	long
cartesian_point	long
date	long
double	long
geo_point	long
integer	long
ip	long
keyword	long
long	long
text	long
unsigned_long	long
version	long

Examples

FROM employees
| STATS COUNT(height)

COUNT(height):long
100

To count the number of rows, use COUNT() or COUNT(*)

FROM employees
| STATS count = COUNT(*) BY languages
| SORT languages DESC

count:long	languages:integer
10	null
21	5
18	4
17	3
19	2
15	1

The expression can use inline functions. This example splits a string into multiple values using the SPLIT function and counts the values

ROW words="foo;bar;baz;qux;quux;foo"
| STATS word_count = COUNT(SPLIT(words, ";"))

word_count:long
6

To count the number of times an expression returns TRUE use a WHERE command to remove rows that shouldn’t be included

ROW n=1
| WHERE n < 0
| STATS COUNT(n)

COUNT(n):long
0

To count the same stream of data based on two different expressions use the pattern COUNT(<expression> OR NULL). This builds on the three-valued logic ({{wikipedia}}/Three-valued_logic[3VL]) of the language: TRUE OR NULL is TRUE, but FALSE OR NULL is NULL, plus the way COUNT handles NULLs: COUNT(TRUE) and COUNT(FALSE) are both 1, but COUNT(NULL) is 0.

ROW n=1
| STATS COUNT(n > 0 OR NULL), COUNT(n < 0 OR NULL)

COUNT(n > 0 OR NULL):long	COUNT(n < 0 OR NULL):long
1	0