---
layout: global
title: LIMIT Clause
displayTitle: LIMIT Clause
license: |
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this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
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---
The LIMIT
clause is used to constrain the number of rows returned by
the [SELECT](sql-ref-syntax-qry-select.html) statement. In general, this clause
is used in conjunction with [ORDER BY](sql-ref-syntax-qry-select-orderby.html) to
ensure that the results are deterministic.
### Syntax
{% highlight sql %}
LIMIT { ALL | integer_expression }
{% endhighlight %}
### Parameters
ALL
-
If specified, the query returns all the rows. In other words, no limit is applied if this
option is specified.
integer_expression
-
Specifies a foldable expression that returns an integer.
### Examples
{% highlight sql %}
CREATE TABLE person (name STRING, age INT);
INSERT INTO person VALUES
('Zen Hui', 25),
('Anil B', 18),
('Shone S', 16),
('Mike A', 25),
('John A', 18),
('Jack N', 16);
-- Select the first two rows.
SELECT name, age FROM person ORDER BY name LIMIT 2;
+------+---+
|name |age|
+------+---+
|Anil B|18 |
|Jack N|16 |
+------+---+
-- Specifying ALL option on LIMIT returns all the rows.
SELECT name, age FROM person ORDER BY name LIMIT ALL;
+-------+---+
|name |age|
+-------+---+
|Anil B |18 |
|Jack N |16 |
|John A |18 |
|Mike A |25 |
|Shone S|16 |
|Zen Hui|25 |
+-------+---+
-- A function expression as an input to LIMIT.
SELECT name, age FROM person ORDER BY name LIMIT length('SPARK')
+-------+---+
| name|age|
+-------+---+
| Anil B| 18|
| Jack N| 16|
| John A| 18|
| Mike A| 25|
|Shone S| 16|
+-------+---+
-- A non-foldable expression as an input to LIMIT is not allowed.
SELECT name, age FROM person ORDER BY name LIMIT length(name)
org.apache.spark.sql.AnalysisException: The limit expression must evaluate to a constant value ...
{% endhighlight %}
### Related Clauses
- [SELECT Main](sql-ref-syntax-qry-select.html)
- [WHERE Clause](sql-ref-syntax-qry-select-where.html)
- [GROUP BY Clause](sql-ref-syntax-qry-select-groupby.html)
- [HAVING Clause](sql-ref-syntax-qry-select-having.html)
- [ORDER BY Clause](sql-ref-syntax-qry-select-orderby.html)
- [SORT BY Clause](sql-ref-syntax-qry-select-sortby.html)
- [CLUSTER BY Clause](sql-ref-syntax-qry-select-clusterby.html)
- [DISTRIBUTE BY Clause](sql-ref-syntax-qry-select-distribute-by.html)