Try

...count(DISTINCT linka)...

>i have a query that give me a flat file
>

>sele * from table 1 left outer join table2 on linka = linkb
>

>the problem is that i have a unique record id in table2 and in table1 linka acts as the unique id. What i need to do is count the unique instances of linka, the count of the unique id in table2 works fine. the select i am using goes like this
>

>sele *, count(linka) as num_of_trans, count(table2_uid) as num_of _lines
>

>both are giving the same result but i need num_of_trans to be the number of entries selected out of table1. any help much appreciated
>~M