What is the purpose and feature of the “limit” clause in PostgreSQL?
LIMIT in PostgreSQL is a keyword used to restrict the number of rows returned in a query result set. By using the LIMIT keyword in a SELECT query statement, you can specify the limit of rows to be returned, thus reducing the size of the query result set.
The characteristics of the LIMIT keyword include:
- You can specify a limit on the number of rows returned to control the size of the query result set.
- It can be used in conjunction with ORDER BY to return rows in a specific order in the results.
- It can be used together with the OFFSET keyword to specify the starting position of rows to be returned from the query result set.
- You can use LIMIT ALL to return all matching rows without limiting the number of rows returned.
- It can be used for pagination by limiting the number of rows returned and the offset in each query to achieve pagination effect.