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TOP clause
SQL clause is the specific part of a SQL statement which is used to perform various operations. It can be combined to create more complex queries to retrieve and manipulate data.
TOP clause :
TOP clause is used to fetch specified number or percentage of rows from a table.
It is often used with other clauses such as 'SELECT' and 'FROM' etc. to retrieve, specify table and manipulate data.
The syntax of the TOP clause generally looks like this :
SELECT TOP n column_name(s)
FROM table_name;
OR
SELECT TOP n PERCENT column_name(s)
FROM table_name;
• Specify the column(s) name after the 'SELECT' keyword.
• Specify Asterisk (*) symbol to selects all columns from the table after the 'SELECT' keyword.
• Specify the table name after the 'FROM' keyword.
• Specify number or percentage of rows that you want to retrieve after the 'TOP' keyword.
Here's an example of how you might use the TOP clause :
1. Let's assume we have a table named "[Employees]".
Case - 1 :
Let's assume you want to retrieve only specific number of rows from [Employees] table.
Run below SQL statement :
SELECT TOP 3 *
FROM [Employees];
Above statement will select only top 3 rows from the [Employees] table.
That's it! You have successfully retrieved top 3 rows from [Employees] table.
Case - 2 :
Let's assume you want to retrieve only specific percentage of rows from [Employees] table.
Run below SQL statement :
SELECT TOP 40 PERCENT *
FROM [Employees];
Above statement will select only top 2 rows, considering that [Employees] table contained total 5 rows. 40 percent of 5 rows is equates to 2 rows.
That's it! You have successfully retrieved top 40 percent of rows from [Employees] table.