Description

The SQL keyword SELECT TOP is used to fetch a specific number of records.

  • This keyword TOP is valid only in the SQL Server database system.
  • MySQL uses the LIMIT keyword and Oracle uses the ROWNUM keyword for the same purpose.

SELECT TOP

The below SQL returns the five records from the result set.

SELECT TOP 5 * FROM customers;

SELECT With LIMIT

The below SQL returns the five records from the result set.

SELECT * FROM customers
LIMIT 5;

SELECT With ROWNUM

The below SQL returns the five records from the result set.

SELECT * FROM customers
WHERE ROWNUM <= 5;

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