---
layout: global
title: LIMIT Clause
displayTitle: LIMIT Clause
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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 <code>LIMIT</code> 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 conjuction 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
<dl>
  <dt><code><em>ALL</em></code></dt>
  <dd>
    If specified, the query returns all the rows. In other words, no limit is applied if this
    option is specified.
  </dd>
  <dt><code><em>integer_expression</em></code></dt>
  <dd>
    Specifies an expression that returns an integer. 
  </dd>
</dl>

### 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|
  +-------+---+
{% 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)