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LIMIT AND SKIP

The LIMIT clause constrains the number of rows in the output.

The Syntax in openCypher and nGQL-extension are different.

  • NGQL-extension: A pipe | must be used. And an offset can be ignored.
  • OpenCypher style: No pipes are permitted. Use Skip to indicate offset.

NOTE: When using LIMIT(in either syntax above), it is important to use an ORDER BY clause that constrains the output into a unique order. Otherwise, you will get an unpredictable subset of the output.

nGQL-extension syntax

In nGQL-extension, LIMIT works the same as in SQL, and must be used with pipe |. The LIMIT clause accepts one or two arguments. The values of both arguments must be non-negative integers.

YIELD <var>
[| LIMIT [<offset_value>,] <number_rows>]
  • var: The columns or calculations that you wish to sort.
  • number_rows: It constrains the number of rows to return. For example, LIMIT 10 would return the first 10 rows.
  • offset_value(Optional): It defines from which row to start including the rows in the output. The offset starts from zero.

Examples

nebula> GO FROM "player100" OVER follow REVERSELY YIELD $$.player.name AS Friend, $$.player.age AS Age | ORDER BY Age,Friend | LIMIT 1, 3;
+-------------------+-----+
| Friend            | Age |
+-------------------+-----+
| "Danny Green"     | 31  |
+-------------------+-----+
| "Aron Baynes"     | 32  |
+-------------------+-----+
| "Marco Belinelli" | 32  |
+-------------------+-----+

OpenCypher Syntax

RETURN <var>
[SKIP <offset>]
[LIMIT <number_rows>]
Parameter Description
offset Optional. It specifies the number of rows to be skipped. The offset starts from zero.
number_rows It specifies the number of rows to be returned. It can be a non-negative integer or an expression that outputs a non-negative integer.

Either offset or number_rows can accept an expression, which value must be a non-negative integer.

NOTE: Fraction expressions composed of two integers are automatically floored to integers. For example, 8/6 is floored to 1.

Examples

Return a specific number of rows. To return the top N rows from the result, use LIMIT <N> as follows:

nebula> MATCH (v:player) RETURN v.name AS Name, v.age AS Age \
        ORDER BY Age LIMIT 5;
+-------------------------+-----+
| Name                    | Age |
+-------------------------+-----+
| "Luka Doncic"           | 20  |
+-------------------------+-----+
| "Ben Simmons"           | 22  |
+-------------------------+-----+
| "Kristaps Porzingis"    | 23  |
+-------------------------+-----+
| "Giannis Antetokounmpo" | 24  |
+-------------------------+-----+
| "Kyle Anderson"         | 25  |
+-------------------------+-----+
nebula> MATCH (v:player) RETURN v.name AS Name, v.age AS Age \
        ORDER BY Age LIMIT rand32(5);
+-------------------------+-----+
| Name                    | Age |
+-------------------------+-----+
| "Luka Doncic"           | 20  |
+-------------------------+-----+
| "Ben Simmons"           | 22  |
+-------------------------+-----+
| "Kristaps Porzingis"    | 23  |
+-------------------------+-----+
| "Giannis Antetokounmpo" | 24  |
+-------------------------+-----+

SKIP-syntax

You can use SKIP <N> to skip the top N rows from the result and return the rest of the result.

nebula> MATCH (v:player{name:"Tim Duncan"}) --> (v2) \
        RETURN v2.name AS Name, v2.age AS Age \
        ORDER BY Age DESC SKIP 1;
+-----------------+-----+
| Name            | Age |
+-----------------+-----+
| "Manu Ginobili" | 41  |
+-----------------+-----+
| "Tony Parker"   | 36  |
+-----------------+-----+
nebula> MATCH (v:player{name:"Tim Duncan"}) --> (v2) \
        RETURN v2.name AS Name, v2.age AS Age \
        ORDER BY Age DESC SKIP 1+1;
+---------------+-----+
| Name          | Age |
+---------------+-----+
| "Tony Parker" | 36  |
+---------------+-----+

You can use SKIP and LIMIT together to return the middle N rows.

nebula> MATCH (v:player{name:"Tim Duncan"}) --> (v2) \
        RETURN v2.name AS Name, v2.age AS Age \
        ORDER BY Age DESC SKIP 1 LIMIT 1;
+-----------------+-----+
| Name            | Age |
+-----------------+-----+
| "Manu Ginobili" | 41  |
+-----------------+-----+
Last update: March 29, 2021
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