Assistance Urgent.

Hi I am new to this list and need some help with PHP and MYSQL. We have a database that has lots of fields in the table. What we are trying to do is get specific results, i will explain. Basicall we need to be able to retrieve the total number of records in the database but for individual entries. We have a field named: related_discipline which contains 1 of 12 different disciplines. So for example we have Rail which could be in the field, or Utilities and so on.. what we need to do is know how many of each there are in the database, I am still developing my knowledge of PHP and MySql so help would be appreciated. We need to be able to display the 12 different options that could be in that field in the database and how many entries there are for each option. I would truly appreciate if someone could assist me here. With kindest regards Barry Zimmerman