# NQL count()
The `count()` function returns the number of unique objects or punctual events.
## Using with the ‘compute’ clause
### For objects:
It returns the number of unique objects.
{% code overflow="wrap" lineNumbers="true" %}
```
devices during past 7d
| include execution.events during past 7d
| compute number_of_devices = device.count()
```
{% endcode %}
### For punctual events:
It computes the number of events per object.
{% code overflow="wrap" lineNumbers="true" %}
```
devices during past 7d
| include execution.crashes during past 7d
| compute number_of_crashes_ = count()
```
{% endcode %}
### For sampled events:
It is not recommended to use the `count()` function on sampled events as it will return the number of data samples, not the actual number of events.
## Using with the ‘summarize’ clause
When used with the `summarize` clause, the `count()` function always returns the number of records in the root table.
### For objects:
It returns the number of objects.
{% code overflow="wrap" lineNumbers="true" %}
```
devices during past 7d
| summarize c1 = count()
```
{% endcode %}
### For punctual events:
It returns the number of events.
{% code overflow="wrap" lineNumbers="true" %}
```
execution.crashes during past 7d
| summarize c1 = number_of_crashes.count()
```
{% endcode %}
Note that the following query returns the number of records of root table (in this case, devices), not the number of unique events. To count events, use the `sum()` function in the `summarize` clause instead.
{% code overflow="wrap" lineNumbers="true" %}
```
devices during past 7d
| include execution.crashes during past 7d
| compute number_of_crashes_ = number_of_crashes.count()
| summarize c1 = number_of_crashes_.count()
```
{% endcode %}
### For sampled events:
It is not recommended to use the `count()` function on sampled events as it will return the number of data samples, not the actual number of events.
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