SQL SELECT TOP Statement

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

The SELECT TOP clause is useful for large tables with thousands of records.

Note: Not all database systems support the SELECT TOP clause.

SQL server/ms Access Syntax

SELECT TOP number|percent column_name (s) from table_name;

The SQL SELECT TOP in MySQL and Oracle is equivalent

MySQL syntax

SELECT column_name (s) from table_namelimit number;

Instance

SELECT *from Personslimit 5;

Oracle syntax

SELECT column_name (s) from Table_namewhere ROWNUM <= number;

Instance

SELECT *from personswhere ROWNUM <=5;

Demo Database

In this tutorial, we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

The following is the data selected from the "Customers" table:

City

CustomerID	CustomerName	ContactName	Address		PostalCode	Country
1	Alfreds Futterkiste	Maria Anders	Obere Str. 57	Berlin	12209	Germany
2	Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados	Ana Trujillo	Avda. De la Constitución 2222	México D.F.	05021	Mexico
3	Antonio Moreno Taquería	Antonio Moreno	Mataderos 2312	México D.F.	05023	Mexico
4	Around the Horn	Thomas Hardy	Hanover Sq.	London	WA1 1DP	UK
5	Berglunds Snabbköp	Christina Berglund	Berguvsvägen 8	Across	S-958 22	Sweden

SQL SELECT TOP instance

The following SQL statement selects the first two records from the "Customers" table:

SELECT TOP 2 * from Customers;

SQL SELECT TOP PERCENT instance

The following SQL statement selects the previous 50% records from the "Customers" table:

SELECT TOP PERCENT * from Customers;

　　

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SQL SELECT TOP Statement