SQL TOP Clause

The TOP clause is used to specify the number of records to return.

The TOP clause can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records can impact on performance.

Note: Not all database systems support the TOP clause.

SQL Server Syntax

SELECT TOP number|percent column_name(s) FROM table_name

SQL SELECT TOP Equivalent in MySQL and Oracle

MySQL Syntax

SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name LIMIT number

Example

SELECT * FROM Persons LIMIT 5

Oracle Syntax

SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE ROWNUM <= number

Example

SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE ROWNUM <=5

SQL TOP Example

The "Persons" table:

Id	LastName	FirstName	Address	City
1	Navis	Anto	Madras	TVL
2	Ji	Bala	Bombay	TVL
3	Christopher	Franklin	America	KK
4	Nilsen	Tom	Vingvn 23	KK

Now we want to select only the two first records in the table above.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT TOP 2 * FROM Persons

The result-set will look like this:

Id	LastName	FirstName	Address	City
1	Navis	Anto	Madras	TVL
2	Ji	Bala	Bombay	TVL

SQL TOP PERCENT Example

The "Persons" table:

Id	LastName	FirstName	Address	City
1	Navis	Anto	Madras	TVL
2	Ji	Bala	Bombay	TVL
3	Christopher	Franklin	America	KK
4	Nilsen	Tom	Vingvn 23	KK

Now we want to select only 50% of the records in the table above.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT TOP 50 PERCENT * FROM Persons

The result-set will look like this:

Id	LastName	FirstName	Address	City
1	Navis	Anto	Madras	TVL
2	Ji	Bala	Bombay	TVL