- Introduction To SQL
- SQL Syntax
- SQL SELECT Statement
- SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement
- SQL WHERE Clause
- SQL AND, OR And NOT Operators
- SQL ORDER BY Keyword
- SQL INSERT INTO Statement
- SQL NULL Values
- SQL UPDATE Statement
- SQL DELETE Statement
- SQL TOP, LIMIT, FETCH FIRST Or ROWNUM Clause
- SQL MIN() And MAX() Functions
- SQL COUNT(), AVG() And SUM() Functions
- SQL LIKE Operator
- SQL Wildcards
- SQL IN Operator
- SQL BETWEEN Operator
- SQL Aliases
- SQL Joins
- SQL INNER JOIN Keyword
- SQL LEFT JOIN Keyword
- SQL RIGHT JOIN Keyword
- SQL FULL OUTER JOIN Keyword
- SQL Self Join
- SQL UNION Operator
- SQL GROUP BY Statement
- SQL HAVING Clause
- SQL EXISTS Operator
- SQL ANY And ALL Operators
- SQL SELECT INTO Statement
- SQL INSERT INTO SELECT Statement
- SQL CASE Statement
- SQL NULL Functions
- SQL Stored Procedures For SQL Server
- SQL Comments
- SQL Operators
- SQL CREATE DATABASE Statement
- SQL DROP DATABASE Statement
- SQL BACKUP DATABASE For SQL Server
- SQL CREATE TABLE Statement
- SQL DROP TABLE Statement
- SQL ALTER TABLE Statement
- SQL Constraints
- SQL NOT NULL Constraint
- SQL UNIQUE Constraint
- SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint
- SQL FOREIGN KEY Constraint
- ALTER TABLE Orders DROP CONSTRAINT FK_PersonOrder;
- SQL DEFAULT Constraint
- SQL CREATE INDEX Statement
- SQL AUTO INCREMENT Field
- SQL Working With Dates
- SQL Views
- SQL Injection
- SQL Hosting
- SQL Data Types For MySQL, SQL Server, And MS Access
SQL TOP, LIMIT, FETCH FIRST or ROWNUM Clause
The SQL SELECT TOP Clause
The SELECT TOP clause is used to specify the number of records to return.
The SELECT TOP clause is useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records can impact performance.
Note: Not all database systems support the SELECT TOP clause. MySQL supports the LIMIT clause to select a limited number of records, while Oracle uses FETCH FIRST n ROWS ONLY and ROWNUM.
SQL Server / MS Access Syntax:
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;
MySQL Syntax:
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
LIMIT number;
Oracle 12 Syntax:
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name(s)
FETCH FIRST number ROWS ONLY;
Older Oracle Syntax:
FROM table_name
WHERE ROWNUM <= number;
Older Oracle Syntax (with ORDER BY):
FROM (SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name ORDER BY column_name(s))
WHERE ROWNUM <= number;
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Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
| CustomerID | CustomerName | ContactName | Address | City | PostalCode | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Alfreds Futterkiste | Maria Anders | Obere Str. 57 | Berlin | 12209 | Germany |
| 2 | Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados | Ana Trujillo | Avda. de la Constitución 2222 | México D.F. | 05021 | Mexico |
| 3 | Antonio Moreno Taquería | Antonio Moreno | Mataderos 2312 | México D.F. | 05023 | Mexico |
| 4 |
Around the Horn | Thomas Hardy | 120 Hanover Sq. | London | WA1 1DP | UK |
| 5 | Berglunds snabbköp | Christina Berglund | Berguvsvägen 8 | Luleå | S-958 22 | Sweden |
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SQL TOP, LIMIT And FETCH FIRST Examples
The following SQL statement selects the first three records from the "Customers" table (for SQL Server/MS Access):
Example
The following SQL statement shows the equivalent example for MySQL:
Example
LIMIT 3;
The following SQL statement shows the equivalent example for Oracle:
Example
FETCH FIRST 3 ROWS ONLY;
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SQL TOP PERCENT Example
The following SQL statement selects the first 50% of the records from the "Customers" table (for SQL Server/MS Access):
Example
The following SQL statement shows the equivalent example for Oracle:
Example
FETCH FIRST 50 PERCENT ROWS ONLY;
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ADD A WHERE CLAUSE
The following SQL statement selects the first three records from the "Customers" table, where the country is "Germany" (for SQL Server/MS Access):
Example
WHERE Country='Germany';
The following SQL statement shows the equivalent example for MySQL:
Example
WHERE Country='Germany'
LIMIT 3;
The following SQL statement shows the equivalent example for Oracle:
Example
WHERE Country='Germany'
FETCH FIRST 3 ROWS ONLY;
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