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LIMIT clause

reference

March 23, 2025

+ 12

Purpose

When you don’t need the entire resultset, use the LIMIT clause to specify the maximum number of documents to be returned in a resultset by a SELECT query.

The LIMIT and OFFSET clauses are evaluated after the ORDER BY clause.

A negative value is the same as LIMIT 0.

Starting from version 4.5, the LIMIT clause in INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements is no longer a hint. It indicates that the actual number of mutations will be less than or equal to the specified LIMIT.

Syntax

LIMIT expr

Arguments

expr: Integer or an expression that evaluates to an integer representing the number of resulting documents.

Examples

Example 1. Get only 2 documents of hotels with an empty room

n1ql
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SELECT name, address, city, country, url
FROM `travel-sample`.inventory.hotel
WHERE vacancy = true
LIMIT 2;

Result

json
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[
  {
    "address": "Capstone Road, ME7 3JE",
    "city": "Medway",
    "country": "United Kingdom",
    "name": "Medway Youth Hostel",
    "url": "http://www.yha.org.uk"
  },
  {
    "address": "6 rue aux Juifs",
    "city": "Giverny",
    "country": "France",
    "name": "The Robins",
    "url": "http://givernyguesthouse.com/robin.htm"
  }
]

Example 2. Set the limit of Example 1 based on an equation

n1ql
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SELECT name, address, city, country, url
FROM `travel-sample`.inventory.hotel
WHERE vacancy = true
LIMIT (20/10);

Result

json
ViewCopy
[
  {
    "address": "Capstone Road, ME7 3JE",
    "city": "Medway",
    "country": "United Kingdom",
    "name": "Medway Youth Hostel",
    "url": "http://www.yha.org.uk"
  },
  {
    "address": "6 rue aux Juifs",
    "city": "Giverny",
    "country": "France",
    "name": "The Robins",
    "url": "http://givernyguesthouse.com/robin.htm"
  }
]