LIMIT clause
The LIMIT clause controls how many rows are returned from your query results.
Basic syntax
Select first rows:
Returns the first m rows from the result, or all records when there are fewer than m.
Alternative TOP syntax (MS SQL Server compatible):
This is equivalent to LIMIT m and can be used for compatibility with Microsoft SQL Server queries.
Select with offset:
Skips the first n rows, then returns the next m rows.
In both forms, n and m must be non-negative integers.
Negative limits
Select rows from the end of the result set using negative values:
| Syntax | Result |
|---|---|
LIMIT -m | Last m rows |
LIMIT -m OFFSET -n | Last m rows after skipping the last n rows |
LIMIT m OFFSET -n | First m rows after skipping the last n rows |
LIMIT -m OFFSET n | Last m rows after skipping the first n rows |
The LIMIT -n, -m syntax is equivalent to LIMIT -m OFFSET -n.
Fractional limits
Use decimal values between 0 and 1 to select a percentage of rows:
| Syntax | Result |
|---|---|
LIMIT 0.1 | First 10% of rows |
LIMIT 1 OFFSET 0.5 | The median row |
LIMIT 0.25 OFFSET 0.5 | Third quartile (25% of rows after skipping the first 50%) |
- Fractions must be Float64 values greater than 0 and less than 1.
- Fractional row counts are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Combining limit types
You can mix standard integers with fractional or negative offsets:
LIMIT ... WITH TIES
The WITH TIES modifier includes additional rows that have the same ORDER BY values as the last row in your limit.
With WITH TIES, all rows matching the last value are included:
Row 6 is included because it has the same value (2) as row 5.
WITH TIES is not supported with negative limits.
This modifier can be combined with the ORDER BY ... WITH FILL modifier.
Considerations
Non-deterministic results: Without an ORDER BY clause, the rows returned may be arbitrary and vary between query executions.
Server-side limit: The number of rows returned can also be affected by the limit setting.
See also
- LIMIT BY — Limits rows per group of values, useful for getting top N results within each category.