Beginner

21. LIMIT

Learn how the LIMIT clause restricts the number of rows returned by a SQL query.

📘 Lesson 21 of 728 ⏱ 7 min 🎯 Beginner

The LIMIT clause is used in SQL to restrict the number of rows returned by a query. It is commonly supported by databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite. LIMIT is useful when you only need a small number of records instead of the complete result set.

Large tables can contain thousands or millions of records. Returning unnecessary rows can make queries harder to analyze and may increase processing time. LIMIT allows analysts to quickly inspect a smaller portion of the data.

Suppose an Employees table contains 50,000 records and you only want to inspect the first 10 records. LIMIT can restrict the result to 10 rows.

SQL 
SELECT
    EmployeeName,
    Department,
    Salary
FROM Employees
LIMIT 10;

LIMIT is useful for testing queries, previewing data, creating sample datasets, checking recent records, and displaying a limited number of results.

  • LIMIT restricts the number of returned rows.
  • LIMIT is supported by several database systems.
  • LIMIT is useful for testing queries.
  • LIMIT can help preview large datasets.
  • LIMIT syntax can differ between database systems.
What is LIMIT used for?

LIMIT restricts the number of rows returned by a SQL query.

Is LIMIT supported by every database system?

No. SQL Server commonly uses TOP, while Oracle can use FETCH FIRST or other syntax depending on the version.

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