MySQL DISTINCT and LIMIT Example

MySQL DISTINCT and LIMIT Example

Another very simple example of a MySQL query using DISTINCT and LIMIT.

SELECT * FROM customers;


+---------+------------+-----------+
| Cust_id | First_Name | Last_Name |
+---------+------------+-----------+
|       1 |    Mark       |      James       |
|       2 |    Paul         |      James       |
|       3 |    Sam         |     James        |
|       4 |    Paul         |     Dodds       |
+---------+------------+-----------+


If we just want the database to return just the last name, we would use

SELECT Last_Name FROM customers;


+-----------+
| Last_Name |
+-----------+
| James     |
| James     |
| James     |
| Dodds    |
+---------+

Now we have duplicates, to remove these use

SELECT DISTINCT Last_Name FROM customers;


+-----------+
| Last_Name |
+-----------+
| James         |
| Dodds        |
+-----------+



If we had a large database and we just want the first three results.

SELECT tile FROM products LIMIT 3;


+---------+
| tile          |
+---------+
| Shoes      |
| Soap       |
| Shampoo |
+---------+


Now we still want 3 results but not the first one..

SELECT tile FROM products LIMIT 1, 3;


+---------+
| tile          |
+---------+
| Soap       |
| Shampoo |
| DVD       |
+---------+


As the first position in the database starts at 0, we need to state the first item we want should start at 1.