Limit Returned Rows

Return only part of a result set using the row-limiting syntax each engine supports.

5/5 supported engines validation-green 1 example 2 scenarios

Docker-validated Not currently validation-green

Example 1

Return the first two rows in sorted order

A row limit is only meaningful when the query also defines an order, otherwise the chosen rows may vary.

MySQL MariaDB PostgreSQL SQLite

Engine-specific syntax

Source table data

Setup

CREATE TABLE articles (id INT, title VARCHAR(50));

INSERT INTO
  articles (id, title)
VALUES
  (1, 'Alpha'),
  (2, 'Bravo'),
  (3, 'Charlie');

Validated query

SQL

SELECT
  id,
  title
FROM
  articles
ORDER BY
  id
LIMIT
  2;

Expected result

id	title
1	Alpha
2	Bravo

SQL Server

Engine-specific syntax

Source table data

Setup

CREATE TABLE articles (id INT, title VARCHAR(50));

INSERT INTO
  articles (id, title)
VALUES
  (1, 'Alpha'),
  (2, 'Bravo'),
  (3, 'Charlie');

Validated query

SQL

SELECT
  TOP 2 id,
  title
FROM
  articles
ORDER BY
  id;

Expected result

id	title
1	Alpha
2	Bravo

The output is the same, but the query syntax is materially different on SQL Server.

Useful when

Where this command helps.

showing only the first few rows in a UI
sampling a result set before working on the full query

Explanation

What the command is doing.

Row limiting is a common area where engines diverge. MySQL, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL use LIMIT, while SQL Server commonly uses TOP for a basic query like this.

Limit Returned Rows

Return the first two rows in sorted order

Where this command helps.

What the command is doing.

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