Beginner

398. OFFSET

Learn how OFFSET skips a specified number of rows before returning results.

📘 Lesson 398 of 728 ⏱ 9 min 🎯 Intermediate

OFFSET skips a specified number of rows in a result set before returning the remaining rows or the rows requested by a row-limiting clause.

OFFSET is useful for pagination and retrieving different sections of a large result set.

Skip the first 20 employees and return the next 10.

SQL 
SELECT
    EmployeeID,
    EmployeeName,
    Salary
FROM Employees
ORDER BY EmployeeID
OFFSET 20 ROWS
FETCH NEXT 10 ROWS ONLY;

OFFSET is commonly used in application pagination, report pages, and large-result navigation.

  • OFFSET skips rows.
  • It is commonly combined with FETCH.
  • ORDER BY should be used for predictable pagination.
  • OFFSET is useful for paginated results.
  • Large offsets can have performance implications.
What does OFFSET do?

OFFSET skips a specified number of rows before returning the requested result.

Why is ORDER BY important with OFFSET?

ORDER BY provides a predictable row order so pagination remains consistent.

Have you finished this lesson?

Introduction to SQL – All Lessons