MySQL LIMIT

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 Limit.

If you want the Select statement to return a few records or to restrict the rows, we have to use this 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

For this MySQL Limit demonstration, We are going to use the below shown data.

MySQL Limit * Example

Here, the Select * statement selects all the records from customers. However, 1 restricts the records to 1 row.

SELECT *
FROM customer
LIMIT 1;

MySQL Limit Top 10 Example

This LIMIT query restricts the selected records to 10. Use this query to select the top 10 records from a customer table.

SELECT *
FROM customer
LIMIT 10;

Limit Top 3 Records Example

As we said earlier, it is not a good practice to use Select *. This LIMIT 3 example selects the required columns from customers. This statement selects the first three records.

SELECT EmpID, 
       `First Name`,
        `Last Name`,
        Qualification,
        Occupation,
        Income,
        Sales,
        HireDate
FROM 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 to get the top three customers.

SELECT EmpID, 
       `First Name`,
        `Last Name`,
        Qualification,
        Occupation,
        Income,
        Sales,
        HireDate
 FROM customer
 ORDER BY Income
 LIMIT 3

This time we are using the DESC keyword. It means data sorted by Income in descending order. Next, it selects the top 7 records.

SELECT EmpID, 
       `First Name`,
        `Last Name`,
        Qualification,
        Occupation,
        Income,
        Sales,
        HireDate
 FROM customer
 ORDER BY Income DESC
 LIMIT 7;

MySQL Limit Where Example

You can also use the Where Clause along with this. First, it checks the condition against the table and then selects the required rows.

The following MySQL Limit Where 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 customer
 WHERE Sales > 2000
 ORDER BY Income DESC
 LIMIT 5;

Limit Offset Example

You can use the MySQL Row Offset along with the LIMIT. Here, 3, 1 means Starts at 4th and select 1 row.

SELECT EmpID, 
       `First Name`,
       `Last Name`,
       Qualification,
       Occupation,
       Income,
       Sales,
       HireDate
 FROM customer
 LIMIT 3, 1;

The following query starts at the 6th record, and prints consecutive 7 records.

SELECT EmpID, 
       `First Name`,
       `Last Name`,
       Qualification,
       Occupation,
       Income,
       Sales,
       HireDate
 FROM customer
 LIMIT 5, 7;

The following limit query sort the customers in Descending ordering income. Next, it prints the 3rd row. It means the third highest salaried customer.

SELECT EmpID, 
       `First Name`,
       `Last Name`,
       Qualification,
       Occupation,
       Income,
       Sales,
       HireDate
 FROM customer
 ORDER BY Sales DESC
 LIMIT 2, 1;

Multiple Examples of Limit

In this example, we are using the Command Prompt. First, 0 means it returns zero records. The second statement returns the first 2 rows. The last statement returns the first two customer’s orders by sales in descending order. It means the two highest sales customers.