To get the number of columns, use the aggregate function count(*) with information_schema table from MySQL. The syntax is as follows to find the number of columns −
SELECT COUNT(*) as anyVariableName from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS where table_schema = ’yourDatabaseName’ and table_name = ’yourTableName’;
To understand the above syntax, let us create a table with some columns. The following is the query to create a table −
mysql> create table CountColumns −> ( −> Bookid int, −> BookName varchar(200), −> BookAuthorName varchar(200), −> BookPublishedDate datetime −> ); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.69 sec)
Now, we have total 4 columns in my table ‘CountColumns’. You can apply the above syntax to count the number of columns. The query is as follows −
mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) as NumberofColumns FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE table_schema = 'business' −> and table_name = 'CountColumns';
The output displays the count of columns −
+-----------------+ | NumberofColumns | +-----------------+ | 4 | +-----------------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)