Limiting Results with LIMIT
Cap the number of rows returned with LIMIT (and paginate with OFFSET)
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Explanation
LIMIT caps how many rows a query returns.
SELECT name, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY salary DESC
LIMIT 5;The "top N" pattern: ORDER BY + LIMIT together find the highest/lowest N rows — e.g. the 5 highest-paid employees.
Pagination with OFFSET — skip the first N rows, then return the next page: ``sql SELECT name FROM employees ORDER BY name LIMIT 10 OFFSET 20; -- rows 21-30 ("page 3" of 10)
Full clause order so far:
sql SELECT columns FROM table WHERE condition ORDER BY column LIMIT n;
Examples
Top 5 highest-paid engineers
WHERE filters to Engineering, ORDER BY sorts highest-first, LIMIT keeps only the top 5
SELECT name, salary
FROM employees
WHERE department = 'Engineering'
ORDER BY salary DESC
LIMIT 5;How well did you understand this?
Next in SQL & Databases
Removing Duplicates with DISTINCT