most efficient way to count

[snowboardr]

What would be the most efficient way to count how many records there are for each last name of a user from A-Z

ie:

A: 30 users
B: 10 users
C: 22 users


etc

Jason

[red]Army[/red] : [white]Combat Engineer[/white] : [blue]21B[/blue]

 

[jpadie]

select substring(surname, 1,1), count (surname) from sometable group by substring(surname,1,1)

i think that's right. better to ask in the mysql forum.