LIMIT Clause
LIMIT is an output modifier. Logically it is applied at the very end of the query. The LIMIT clause restricts the amount of rows fetched. The OFFSET clause indicates at which position to start reading the values, i.e. the first OFFSET values are ignored.
Note that while LIMIT can be used without an ORDER BY clause, the results might not be deterministic without the ORDER BY clause. This can still be useful, however, for example when you want to inspect a quick snapshot of the data.
Examples
-- select the first 5 rows from the addresses table
SELECT *
FROM addresses
LIMIT 5;
-- select the 5 rows from the addresses table, starting at position 5 (i.e. ignoring the first 5 rows)
SELECT *
FROM addresses
LIMIT 5
OFFSET 5;
-- select the top 5 cities with the highest population
SELECT city, COUNT(*) AS population
FROM addresses
GROUP BY city
ORDER BY population DESC
LIMIT 5;