You can get the count of how many records there are in each "category" in a table by using group by:
> select species, count(*) from animals group by species;| species | count |
|---|---|
| bird | 140 |
| mammal | 430 |
| reptile | 200 |
| fish | 750 |
You can also optionally sort the output in descending order.
> select species, count(*) from animals group by species order by count;| species | count |
|---|---|
| fish | 750 |
| mammal | 430 |
| reptile | 200 |
| bird | 140 |