Step: Limit

Overview

The Limit step reduces the table to a set number of rows.

Example starting data:

/*---------+--------*
 | student | score  |
 +---------+--------+
 | jane    | 83     |
 | neal    | 35     |
 | sam     | 74     |
 | pat     | 62     |
 *---------+--------*/

Example output data:

Limit to 2 rows

/*---------+--------*
 | student | score  |
 +---------+--------+
 | jane    | 83     |
 | neal    | 35     |
 *---------+--------*/

Step structure

• There will be one limit block where you define a limit.

Field definitions

Limit	The number of rows you would like your output data to contain.

The limit step is non-deterministic if the result set isn't ordered. Different rows may be returned from subsequent queries.

Example

Let's say we are doing initial exploratory work on data. We did a number of complex steps and want to quickly execute the query, so we can iterate.

Starting data:

/*---------+-------+---------+------------*
 | test    | score | student | date       |
 +---------+-------+---------+------------+
 | quiz    | 83    | jane    | 2020-04-01 |
 | quiz    | 35    | pat     | 2020-04-01 |
 | quiz    | 89    | sam     | 2020-04-01 |
 | midterm | 74    | jane    | 2020-05-01 |
 | midterm | 62    | pat     | 2020-05-01 |
 | midterm | 93    | sam     | 2020-05-01 |
 | final   | 77    | jane    | 2020-06-01 |
 | final   | 59    | pat     | 2020-06-01 |
 | final   | 92    | sam     | 2020-06-01 |
 *---------+-------+---------+------------*/

Input fields:

Output data:

/*---------+-------+---------+------------*
 | test    | score | student | date       |
 +---------+-------+---------+------------+
 | quiz    | 89    | sam     | 2020-04-01 |
 | midterm | 62    | pat     | 2020-05-01 |
 | midterm | 93    | sam     | 2020-05-01 |
 | final   | 92    | sam     | 2020-06-01 |
 *---------+-------+---------+------------*/