

<a id="flink-sql-limit"></a>

# LIMIT Clause in Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink

Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink® enables constraining the number of rows returned by a SELECT
statement.

## Description


The `LIMIT` clause constrains the number of rows returned by a
`SELECT` statement.

Usually, this clause is used in conjunction with ORDER BY to ensure that the
results are deterministic.

**Table types.** `LIMIT` accepts an
[append-only or updating table](../../concepts/dynamic-tables.md#flink-sql-dynamic-tables-updating-table)
as input. It produces an
[append-only table](../../concepts/dynamic-tables.md#flink-sql-dynamic-tables-append-only-table) if the
input is already append-only; otherwise, it produces an updating table.

## Example

In the Flink SQL shell or in a Cloud Console workspace, run the
following commands to see an example of the LIMIT clause. The following example
selects the first 3 rows from a web page clicks table.

1. Create a table for web page click events.
   ```sql
   -- Create a table for web page click events.
   CREATE TABLE clicks (
     ip_address VARCHAR,
     url VARCHAR,
     click_ts_raw BIGINT
   );
   ```
2. Populate the table with mock clickstream data.
   ```sql
   -- Populate the table with mock clickstream data.
   INSERT INTO clicks
   VALUES( '10.0.0.1',  'https://acme.com/index.html',     1692812175),
         ( '10.0.0.12', 'https://apache.org/index.html',   1692826575),
         ( '10.0.0.13', 'https://confluent.io/index.html', 1692826575),
         ( '10.0.0.1',  'https://acme.com/index.html',     1692812175),
         ( '10.0.0.12', 'https://apache.org/index.html',   1692819375),
         ( '10.0.0.13', 'https://confluent.io/index.html', 1692826575);
   ```

   Press Enter to return to the SQL shell. Because INSERT INTO VALUES is a
   point-in-time statement, it exits after it completes inserting records.
3. View the rows in the `clicks` table and limit the result to 3 rows.
   ```sql
   SELECT * FROM clicks LIMIT 3;
   ```

   Your output should resemble:
   ```none
   ip_address url                             click_ts_raw
   10.0.0.1   https://acme.com/index.html     1692812175
   10.0.0.12  https://apache.org/index.html   1692826575
   10.0.0.13  https://confluent.io/index.html 1692826575
   ```

## Related content

- [Flink SQL Queries](overview.md#flink-sql-queries)
- [Flink SQL Functions](../functions/overview.md#flink-sql-functions-overview)
- [Statements](../statements/overview.md#flink-sql-statements-overview)

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