SQL for MySQL Developers: A Comprehensive Tutorial and Reference

Chapter 13. SELECT Statement: The LIMIT Clause

13.1 Introduction

Many questions that MySQL will have to process begin with such phrases as “Get the top three...” or “Get the last six...” If we want to know one highest or one lowest value, we can use the MAX and MIN functions, respectively. If we ask for more than one row, it becomes difficult. This is where the LIMIT clause is useful. With such a clause, you can extend a select block from which a table expression has been built.

The LIMIT clause is the last clause of a select block with which a subset of the rows can be selected, so the number of rows in the intermediate result can be reduced again. No condition is specified with the LIMIT clause, as with the WHERE and HAVING clauses, but an ...