The MySQL LIMIT is useful to restrict the number of rows that are returned by the query. For example, If you are the Sales Manager and your job is to identify the top-performing products, then you can use MySQL Limit.
If you want the Select statement to return a few records or to restrict the rows, we have to use this LIMIT at the end of the query. The basic Syntax of the MySQL LIMIT clause is as shown below
SELECT Column_Names]
FROM [Table_Name]
LIMIT Value
MySQL Limit * Example
For this Limit Demonstration, We are going to use the below shown data.
Here, Select * statement selects all the records from customers. However, LIMIT 1 limit or restrict the records to 1 row.
SELECT *
FROM `MySQL Tutorial`.customer
LIMIT 1;
MySQL Limit 10 Example
This query limits the selected records to 10. Use this query to select the top 10 records from a customer table.
SELECT *
FROM `MySQL Tutorial`.customer
LIMIT 10;
MySQL Limit 3 Example
As we said earlier, it is not a good practice to use Select *. This example selects the required columns from customers. The limit statement selects the first three records.
SELECT EmpID,
`First Name`,
`Last Name`,
Qualification,
Occupation,
Income,
Sales,
HireDate
FROM `MySQL Tutorial`.customer
LIMIT 3;
MySQL Limit ORDER BY Statement
By default, MySQL table data will sort by the index values. To retrieve three customers having the highest income or sales, you have to sort the data using ORDER BY. Next, use this Limit to get the top three customers
SELECT EmpID,
`First Name`,
`Last Name`,
Qualification,
Occupation,
Income,
Sales,
HireDate
FROM `MySQL Tutorial`.customer
ORDER BY Income
LIMIT 3;
This time we are using the DESC keyword. It means data sorted by Income in descending order. Next, Limit select the top 7 records.
SELECT EmpID,
`First Name`,
`Last Name`,
Qualification,
Occupation,
Income,
Sales,
HireDate
FROM `MySQL Tutorial`.customer
ORDER BY Income DESC
LIMIT 7;
MySQL Limit Where Example
You can also use Where Clause along with Limit. First, it checks the condition against the table and then selects the required rows.
The following query selects the First 5 Customers whose Sales is Greater than 2000. Here, we used the Order By clause to sort the Customers in Descending order using income.
SELECT EmpID,
`First Name`,
`Last Name`,
Qualification,
Occupation,
Income,
Sales,
HireDate
FROM `MySQL Tutorial`.customer
WHERE Sales > 2000
ORDER BY Income DESC
LIMIT 5;
MySQL Limit Offset Example
You can use the MySQL Row Offset along with this. Here, Limit 3, 1 means Starts at 4th and select 1 record.
SELECT EmpID,
`First Name`,
`Last Name`,
Qualification,
Occupation,
Income,
Sales,
HireDate
FROM `MySQL Tutorial`.customer
LIMIT 3, 1;
The following query starts at 6th records, and selects consecutive 7 records.
SELECT EmpID,
`First Name`,
`Last Name`,
Qualification,
Occupation,
Income,
Sales,
HireDate
FROM `MySQL Tutorial`.customer
LIMIT 5, 7;
The following MySQL limit query sort the customers in Descending ordering income. Next, it selects the 3rd record. It means the third highest salaried customer.
SELECT EmpID,
`First Name`,
`Last Name`,
Qualification,
Occupation,
Income,
Sales,
HireDate
FROM `MySQL Tutorial`.customer
ORDER BY Sales DESC
LIMIT 2, 1;
Limit Multiple Examples
In this example, we are using the Command Prompt. First, Limit 0 means it returns zero records. The second statement selects the first 2 records. The last statement selects the first two customers order by sales in descending order. It means the two highest sales customers.
SELECT * FROM customer LIMIT 0;
SELECT * FROM customer LIMIT 2;
SELECT * FROM customer ORDER BY Sales DESC LIMIT 2;
