Limit by percentage of rows FAQS

1. What is the FETCH FIRST N PERCENT clause in Oracle?

  • The FETCH FIRST N PERCENT clause is a feature introduced in Oracle 12c that allows you to limit the result set to a specific percentage of rows. 
  • It's a straightforward way to retrieve a percentage of the total rows after sorting the result set.

Example:

SELECT * FROM employees

ORDER BY salary DESC

FETCH FIRST 10 PERCENT ROWS ONLY;

  • This will return the top 10% of rows, ordered by salary in descending order.

2. How do I calculate a percentage of rows in Oracle versions before 12c?

  • In Oracle versions prior to 12c, there isn't direct support for FETCH FIRST N PERCENT.
  • You can calculate the percentage manually by using ROWNUM or analytic functions like ROW_NUMBER() and COUNT().

Example:

SELECT *

FROM (

  SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC

)

WHERE ROWNUM <= (SELECT ROUND(COUNT(*) * 0.20) FROM employees);

  • This query calculates 20% of the total rows and then retrieves that portion.

3. Can I limit rows by a percentage using ROWNUM in Oracle?

  • Yes, you can use ROWNUM with a subquery that calculates the total number of rows and then fetches the percentage of rows.
  • However, this approach is less efficient and more complex than using FETCH FIRST N PERCENT.

Example:

SELECT *

FROM (

  SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC

)

WHERE ROWNUM <= (SELECT ROUND(COUNT(*) * 0.20) FROM employees);

  • This retrieves the top 20% of rows based on the salary order.

4. What happens if the percentage results in a non-integer value (e.g., 10.5%)?

  • When calculating percentages, if the result is a non-integer, you can use the ROUND() function to round the result to the nearest whole number.
  • Oracle SQL will not return a fraction of a row, so the result must be an integer.

Example:

SELECT *

FROM employees

WHERE ROWNUM <= ROUND(COUNT(*) * 0.10);

5. Can I use FETCH FIRST N PERCENT with an OFFSET?

  • Yes, you can combine FETCH FIRST N PERCENT with the OFFSET clause to implement pagination or retrieve a specific slice of the result set.

Example:

SELECT *

FROM employees

ORDER BY salary DESC

OFFSET 10 PERCENT ROWS FETCH NEXT 10 PERCENT ROWS ONLY;

  • This skips the first 10% of the rows and fetches the next 10% based on the salary ordering.

6. Can I limit rows by percentage for each group (e.g., top 10% employees per department)?

  • Yes, you can achieve this using analytic functions like ROW_NUMBER() or RANK(), combined with PARTITION BY.
  • This allows you to apply the percentage limit within specific groups (e.g., each department).

Example:

SELECT *

FROM (

  SELECT employees.*,

         ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY department_id ORDER BY salary DESC) AS row_num,

         COUNT(*) OVER (PARTITION BY department_id) AS total_rows

  FROM employees

)

WHERE row_num <= ROUND(total_rows * 0.20);

  • This retrieves the top 20% of employees within each department based on salary.

7. How do I handle ties (identical values) when limiting rows by percentage?

  • To handle ties in ranking (e.g., employees with the same salary), you can use DENSE_RANK() or RANK() analytic functions.
  • This will give employees with identical values the same rank and include them in the result set, instead of skipping them.

Example:

SELECT *

FROM (

  SELECT employees.*,

         DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY salary DESC) AS rank,

         COUNT(*) OVER () AS total_rows

  FROM employees

)

WHERE rank <= ROUND(total_rows * 0.20);

  • This ensures that employees with the same salary will receive the same rank and will be included in the top 20% of rows.

8. What if the percentage calculation results in fewer than the intended number of rows?

  • If you calculate a percentage that rounds to a very small number (e.g., rounding 0.3 to 0), it could result in fewer rows than you expect.
  • You can use ROUND() or CEIL() to ensure that at least one row is returned if the percentage results in a very small number.

Example:

SELECT *

FROM employees

WHERE ROWNUM <= CEIL(COUNT(*) * 0.10);

  • This ensures that at least 1 row is returned if the calculated percentage is too small.

9. Can I use FETCH FIRST N PERCENT with ORDER BY?

  • Yes, you should always use ORDER BY to ensure the rows are sorted in the desired order before applying the percentage limit.
  • This ensures that you're getting the top percentage based on the sorting criteria.

Example:

SELECT *

FROM employees

ORDER BY salary DESC

FETCH FIRST 10 PERCENT ROWS ONLY;

  • This will return the top 10% of employees sorted by salary in descending order.

10. Does Oracle support limiting by percentage in GROUP BY queries?

  • Yes, you can limit by percentage within groups.
  • You can combine analytic functions such as ROW_NUMBER() or DENSE_RANK() with PARTITION BY to fetch the top percentage of rows within each group (e.g., department or region).

Example:

SELECT *

FROM (

  SELECT employees.*,

         ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY department_id ORDER BY salary DESC) AS row_num

  FROM employees

)

WHERE row_num <= ROUND(0.20 * (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM employees WHERE department_id = employees.department_id));

  • This query retrieves the top 20% of employees within each department based on salary.

 

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