drop table if exists t1; create table t1(n int not null, key(n)) delay_key_write = 1; select count(distinct n) from t1; count(distinct n) 100 explain extended select count(distinct n) from t1; id select_type table partitions type possible_keys key key_len ref rows filtered Extra 1 SIMPLE t1 NULL range n n 4 NULL 21 100.00 Using index for group-by Warnings: Warning 1681 'EXTENDED' is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Note 1003 /* select#1 */ select count(distinct `test`.`t1`.`n`) AS `count(distinct n)` from `test`.`t1` drop table t1;