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# LIMIT Clause in SQL

The `LIMIT` clause in SQL is used to restrict the number of rows returned by a query. It is particularly useful when you want to retrieve only a specific number of records from a large dataset, such as the top 5 highest-paid employees or the first 10 students with the highest scores.

## Key Points

1. **Restricting Rows**: The `LIMIT` clause specifies the maximum number of rows to return.
2. **Offset Support**: You can use the `OFFSET` keyword to skip a specified number of rows before starting to return rows.
3. **Applicability**: The `LIMIT` clause is commonly used with the `SELECT` statement.
4. **Performance**: Using `LIMIT` can improve query performance by reducing the amount of data processed and returned.

## Syntax

```sql theme={"system"}
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
LIMIT number_of_rows;
```

* `column1, column2, ...`: The columns you want to retrieve.
* `table_name`: The table from which to retrieve data.
* `number_of_rows`: The maximum number of rows to return.

### Syntax with OFFSET

```sql theme={"system"}
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
LIMIT number_of_rows OFFSET offset_value;
```

* `offset_value`: The number of rows to skip before starting to return rows.

## Examples

Suppose you have a table named `Employees` that stores employee details.

Table: Employees

| EmployeeID | Name    | City       | State          | Salary |
| ---------- | ------- | ---------- | -------------- | ------ |
| 1          | Anand   | Chennai    | Tamil Nadu     | 50000  |
| 2          | Bala    | Coimbatore | Tamil Nadu     | 60000  |
| 3          | Kavitha | Karaikal   | Puducherry     | 55000  |
| 4          | Raj     | Madurai    | Tamil Nadu     | 70000  |
| 5          | Kumar   | Trichy     | Tamil Nadu     | 45000  |
| 6          | Ram     | Salem      | Tamil Nadu     | 65000  |
| 7          | Karthik | Tirupati   | Andhra Pradesh | 80000  |
| 8          | David   | Bangalore  | Karnataka      | 75000  |
| 9          | Kannan  | Kannur     | Kerala         | 48000  |
| 10         | Siva    | Wayanad    | Kerala         | 52000  |

To retrieve the top 5 highest-paid employees:

```sql theme={"system"}
SELECT Name, City, Salary
FROM Employees
ORDER BY Salary DESC
LIMIT 5;
```

| Name    | City       | Salary |
| ------- | ---------- | ------ |
| Karthik | Tirupati   | 80000  |
| David   | Bangalore  | 75000  |
| Raj     | Madurai    | 70000  |
| Ram     | Salem      | 65000  |
| Bala    | Coimbatore | 60000  |

### Using LIMIT with OFFSET

The `OFFSET` keyword is used to skip a specified number of rows before starting to return rows. For example, to retrieve the next 5 highest-paid employees after the top 5:

```sql theme={"system"}
SELECT Name, City, Salary
FROM Employees
ORDER BY Salary DESC
LIMIT 5 OFFSET 5;
```

| Name    | City     | Salary |
| ------- | -------- | ------ |
| Kavitha | Karaikal | 55000  |
| Siva    | Wayanad  | 52000  |
| Anand   | Chennai  | 50000  |
| Kannan  | Kannur   | 48000  |
| Kumar   | Trichy   | 45000  |

## Practical Use Case

Suppose you have a table named `Students` that stores student details, and you want to retrieve the top 3 students with the highest percentages.

Table: Students

| StudentID | Name    | City       | State          | Percentage |
| --------- | ------- | ---------- | -------------- | ---------- |
| 1         | Ram     | Chennai    | Tamil Nadu     | 92         |
| 2         | Karthik | Coimbatore | Tamil Nadu     | 88         |
| 3         | David   | Bangalore  | Karnataka      | 95         |
| 4         | Kannan  | Karaikal   | Puducherry     | 91         |
| 5         | Siva    | Madurai    | Tamil Nadu     | 89         |
| 6         | Ramesh  | Trichy     | Tamil Nadu     | 90         |
| 7         | Suresh  | Salem      | Tamil Nadu     | 87         |
| 8         | Sathish | Tirupati   | Andhra Pradesh | 94         |
| 9         | Sujatha | Palakkad   | Kerala         | 93         |
| 10        | Anand   | Idukki     | Kerala         | 85         |

```sql theme={"system"}
SELECT Name, City, Percentage
FROM Students
ORDER BY Percentage DESC
LIMIT 3;
```

| Name    | City      | Percentage |
| ------- | --------- | ---------- |
| David   | Bangalore | 95         |
| Sathish | Tirupati  | 94         |
| Sujatha | Palakkad  | 93         |

### Combining LIMIT with WHERE Clause

You can combine the `LIMIT` clause with the `WHERE` clause to filter and restrict the number of rows returned. For example, retrieve the top 2 students from Tamil Nadu with the highest percentages.

```sql theme={"system"}
SELECT Name, City, Percentage
FROM Students
WHERE State = 'Tamil Nadu'
ORDER BY Percentage DESC
LIMIT 2;
```

| Name   | City    | Percentage |
| ------ | ------- | ---------- |
| Ram    | Chennai | 92         |
| Ramesh | Trichy  | 90         |

## Key Takeaways

1. The `LIMIT` clause restricts the number of rows returned by a query.
2. It is often used with `ORDER BY` to retrieve the top or bottom records.
3. The `OFFSET` keyword skips a specified number of rows before returning results.
4. Combining `LIMIT` with `WHERE` allows you to filter and restrict rows simultaneously.
5. Using `LIMIT` improves query performance by reducing the amount of data processed.