SQL Keyword - LIMIT, SELECT TOP And ROWNUM

LIMIT, SELECT TOP AND ROWNUM Keyword

The LIMIT, SELECT TOP, and ROWNUM keywords are used to specify the number of rows to return.

The Limit keyword is used in MySql, Select Top Keyword is used in SQL Server, and the Rownum keyword is used in Oracle.

LIMIT 

The Limit keyword is used in MySql.

Syntax

SELECT * FROM <TABLE_NAME> LIMIT <VALUE>

Example

SELECT * FROM Employee LIMIT 5

SELECT TOP

The Select Top keyword is used in SQL Server.

Syntax

SELECT TOP <VALUE> * FROM <TABLE_NAME>

Example

SELECT TOP 5 * FROM Employee

ROWNUM

The ROWNUM keyword is used in Oracle.

Syntax

SELECT * FROM <TABLE_NAME> WHERE ROWNUM <= <VALUE> 

Example

SELECT * FROM Employee ROWNUM <= 5

In all the above examples, all queries will return the first 5 records from the employee table.

Summary

All three keywords are used to specify the number of rows to return.