ORDER BY & LIMIT: sorting

ORDER BY sorts the result. The default is ascending ASC; write DESC for descending. You can sort by several columns.

SELECT first_name, dept_id, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY dept_id ASC, salary DESC;

LIMIT sets how many rows you get. Combined with sorting it gives you the top or bottom values:

SELECT first_name, hire_date
FROM employees
ORDER BY hire_date
LIMIT 3;