MySQL Workbench reports “is not valid at this position for this server version” error

Question

For the following SQL query:

SELECT COUNT (distinct first_name) from actor;

I receive the following error message:

\"SELECT         


        

Answer 1

Have you tried to run the query deleting the space between "COUNT" and the bracket? I run a similar query to yours on MYSQL 5.7 and it gives me an error, but without that space the query runs.

Let's try this:

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT first_name) FROM actor;