----------- ROWS clause ----------- Function: Limits the number of rows retrieved from a select expression. For the top-level select statement, it would mean a number of rows sent to the host program. Author: Dmitry Yemanov Syntax rules: SELECT ... [ORDER BY ] ROWS [TO ] Scope: DSQL, PSQL Example(s): 1. SELECT * FROM T1 UNION ALL SELECT * FROM T2 ORDER BY COL ROWS 10 TO 100 2. SELECT COL1, COL2, ( SELECT COL3 FROM T3 ORDER BY COL4 DESC ROWS 1 ) FROM T4 3. DELETE FROM T5 ORDER BY COL5 ROWS 1 Note(s): 1. ROWS is a more understandable alternative to the FIRST/SKIP clauses with some extra benefits. It can be used in unions and all kind of subqueries. It is also available in the UPDATE/DELETE statements. 2. When is omitted, then ROWS is a semantical equivalent for FIRST . When both and are used, then ROWS TO means: FIRST ( - + 1) SKIP ( - 1). Note that there's no semantic equivalent for a SKIP clause used without a FIRST clause. 3. The ROWS-clause is not defined in the SQL standard. For SELECT, consider the alternative OFFSET and FETCH clauses defined in the SQL standard.