Using TOP in MySQL queries

On the web I see a lot of questions of developers who are wanting to know how they can retrieve only the first N records in their queries.

The answer is simple, LIMIT

For example, if you only want to select the top 5 names from a names tables, use the following query:

SELECT `firstname`,`lastname`
FROM `names`
ORDER BY `firstname` LIMIT 0,5

This query will return only the first 5 names from the names table.

If you want to select the first 10, use the following query:

SELECT `firstname`,`lastname`
FROM `names`
ORDER BY `firstname` LIMIT 0,10

Related posts:

1. 11 MySQL resources you must read! Conditional joins in MySQL One way to do a “Conditional...
2. The 20 best practices when using MySQL Just came across this great article with 20 best practices...
3. Scaling up your MySQL server We use MySQL on most of our projects. One of...
4. 15 essential PHP and MySQL tutorials! Showing Google Maps with many markers in PHP Sometimes you...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.