# Cardinality Aggregation > More info about cardinality aggregation is in the [official elasticsearch docs][1] A single-value metrics aggregation that calculates an approximate count of distinct values. ## Simple example ```JSON { "aggregations" : { "author_count" : { "cardinality" : { "field" : "author" } } } } ``` And now the query via DSL: ```php $cardinalityAggregation = new CardinalityAggregation('author_count'); $cardinalityAggregation->setField('author'); $search = new Search(); $search->addAggregation($cardinalityAggregation); $queryArray = $search->toArray(); ``` [1]: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/search-aggregations-metrics-cardinality-aggregation.html