Question:
How do I get a query to return only a certain number of rows? For instance, a search criterion might return 100 rows, but I only want to see them 25 at a time.
I know this was possible when I was messing with Oracle a year and a half ago, but I have yet to see anything about doing it with MySQL.
Answer:
I’m not sure about MySQL but in Microsoft SQL Server, you can issue one of either TOP N records, TOP % records, or plain SET ROWCOUNT to limit the number of records returned.
Still, controlling the number of rows returned is a client-side programming issue. You need a client-side cursor to do this, because doing so at the server will absolutely kill performance for everyone else on the server.
