The SQL SELECT TOP Clause
The SELECT TOP clause is used to specify the number of records to return.
The SELECT TOP clause is useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records can impact performance.
Example
Select only the first 3 records of the Customers table:
SELECT TOP 3 * FROM Customers;
Note: Not all database systems support the
SELECT TOPLIMIT clause to select a limited number of records, while Oracle uses
FETCH FIRST ROWS ONLY and ROWNUM.
Continue reading SQL TOP, LIMIT, FETCH FIRST or ROWNUM Clause