How to count the number of columns in a table?

Here is the generic syntax for counting the number of columns in MySQL table:

SELECT
  COUNT(*)
FROM
  INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE
  table_name = 'table_name';

If you have multiple database with the same table name, you should specify the database:

SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE table_schema = 'database_name'
AND table_name = 'table_name';

Example, count the number of columns from the table film in database sakila:

SELECT
  COUNT(*)
FROM
  INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE
  table_schema = 'sakila'
  AND table_name = 'film';

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