What does Count(*) mean??

[froggyface88]

I'm teaching myself how to use access, and came across the phrase "count(*)" in my searching. I can't google the phrase, since the asterisk acts as a wildcard. Can someone please tell me what the count(*) phrase does?

Thanks!

[edmscan]

I'm teaching myself how to use access, and came across the phrase "count(*)" in my searching. I can't google the phrase, since the asterisk acts as a wildcard. Can someone please tell me what the count(*) phrase does?

Thanks!

Count(*) is used just really to count the number of appropriate records as compared to Count([FieldName]) .. which counts the number of occurrences of that field. But performance wise .. Count(*) is faster.

Here is a better explanation ... but really it is basically used to count things. http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_func_count.asp