SQL Cookbook Lesson
How to limit results in SQL
Learn how to limit results in SQL with examples and explanations from SQLPad.
Problem
You have a database and you want to select a specific number of rows from a table, rather than the entire set of rows.
Sample Data
Consider we have a table called employees with the following data:
| id | name | salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | John | 3000 |
| 2 | Mike | 4000 |
| 3 | Sally | 5000 |
| 4 | Alice | 6000 |
| 5 | Bob | 7000 |
MySQL Solution
SELECT * FROM employees LIMIT 3;
Explanation for MySQL Solution
In MySQL, the LIMIT keyword is used to select a limited number of records. The above SQL statement selects the first 3 records from the employees table.
PostgreSQL Solution
SELECT * FROM employees LIMIT 3;
Explanation for PostgreSQL Solution
In PostgreSQL, similar to MySQL, the LIMIT keyword is used to constrain the number of rows returned by the query. The above SQL statement selects the first 3 records from the employees table.
