Using MS SQL TOP
The TOP function in MS Sql is used to retrieve the top desired number of rows from a written SELECT query. That's why TOP is often used in conjunction with the ORDER BY function to sort rows.
Let's examine the example below..
Let's have 2 columns named NAME and PRICE in our table named PRODUCTS. In this table where there are 7 records, we want to bring the first 3 products in order of names.
| NAME | PRICE |
|---|---|
| Fruit Juice | 5 |
| Cake | 10 |
| Beer | 12 |
| Soda | 8 |
| Water | 6 |
| Salt | 15 |
| Sugar | 16 |
For this, let's write a query using the TOP function.
SELECT TOP(3) * FROM PRODUCTS ORDER BY NAME
Below is the result of our query.
| NAME | PRICE |
|---|---|
| Beer | 12 |
| Cake | 10 |
| Fruit Juice | 5 |
We sorted by ORDER BY according to the NAME column and brought the first 3 records from this order.