Query that counts multiple values

Hi,
I have a very basic question but I havent found answer to it anywhere.

I have a table that has following columns: date, answer1, answer2,
answer3, answer4
and entry: 2007-1-1, 'a', 'b', 'a', 'c'

What I want to do is count number of character "a":s as an answer.
Normally (if using COUNT, MATCH..AGAINST) mysql returns rows it finds.
I want to find out how many times this character "a" appears in a
record.
What to do? Thanks for helping.

Br,
Sam

Re: Query that counts multiple values

On 9 Feb, 13:31, "LittleSam" wrote:
> Hi,
> I have a very basic question but I havent found answer to it anywhere.
>
> I have a table that has following columns: date, answer1, answer2,
> answer3, answer4
> and entry: 2007-1-1, 'a', 'b', 'a', 'c'
>
> What I want to do is count number of character "a":s as an answer.
> Normally (if using COUNT, MATCH..AGAINST) mysql returns rows it finds.
> I want to find out how many times this character "a" appears in a
> record.
> What to do? Thanks for helping.
>
> Br,
> Sam

revise your structure

date, answer, result

2007-01-01,1,'a'
etc

select count(*) from table where result = 'a' group by date.

or, if you really must use your existing structure, just join the
table to itself 3 times - but the first option is a better solution.

Re: Query that counts multiple values

On 9 helmi, 15:54, "strawberry" wrote:
> On 9 Feb, 13:31, "LittleSam" wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> > I have a very basic question but I havent found answer to it anywhere.
>
> > I have a table that has following columns: date, answer1, answer2,
> > answer3, answer4
> > and entry: 2007-1-1, 'a', 'b', 'a', 'c'
>
> > What I want to do is count number of character "a":s as an answer.
> > Normally (if using COUNT, MATCH..AGAINST) mysql returns rows it finds.
> > I want to find out how many times this character "a" appears in a
> > record.
> > What to do? Thanks for helping.
>
> > Br,
> > Sam
>
> revise your structure
>
> date, answer, result
>
> 2007-01-01,1,'a'
> etc
>
> select count(*) from table where result = 'a' group by date.
>
> or, if you really must use your existing structure, just join the
> table to itself 3 times - but the first option is a better solution.

Thanks a lot for your advise!
I restructured my tables and now everything works as should.
Thanks again.

-Sam