Is there a command in SQL like less in Linux?

Question

I am new to SQL and I have a large table with several hundred rows that I need to view all of its row. Is there a command in SQL that would act like the less command in Linux that would allow me to step one screen height at a time through the output of a select statement? So the pseudo-code for what I'm after would be, for example:

SELECT * from table less

The Postgres command line client `psql` will automatically do that for you — , Jan 06 '18 at 13:44
What do you mean by "in SQL"? What program are you actually using? — melpomene, Jan 06 '18 at 13:51

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 06 '18 at 13:46

What you're looking for is called "paging" or "pagination"

In MySQL and Postres it's LIMIT n OFFSET m: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/queries-limit.html
In SQL Server it's OFFSET m FETCH NEXT n: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg699618(v=sql.110).aspx

This QA has a more thorough answer: How universal is the LIMIT statement in SQL?

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 06 '18 at 14:35

0

ANSI SQL supports TOP N

SELECT TOP 10 * from table

Certain other dialects of SQL like SQLite support LIMIT

In DB2, you need to use SELECT * from TABLE FETCH FIRST 10 rows only

answered Jan 06 '18 at 14:35

suresubs

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Is there a command in SQL like less in Linux?

2 Answers2