Introduction#

Row Offset and Paging in Various Versions of SQL Server

Syntax#

• SELECT * FROM TableName ORDER BY id OFFSET 10 ROWS FETCH NEXT 10 ROWS ONLY;

Pagination using ROW_NUMBER with a Common Table Expression

The ROW_NUMBER function can assign an incrementing number to each row in a result set. Combined with a Common Table Expression that uses a BETWEEN operator, it is possible to create ‘pages’ of result sets. For example: page one containing results 1-10, page two containing results 11-20, page three containing results 21-30, and so on.

WITH data
AS
(
    SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY name) AS row_id,
        object_id,
        name, 
        type,
        create_date
    FROM sys.objects
)
SELECT *
FROM data
WHERE row_id BETWEEN 41 AND 50

Note: It is not possible to use ROW_NUMBER in a WHERE clause like:

SELECT object_id,
    name,
    type,
    create_date
FROM sys.objects
WHERE ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY name) BETWEEN 41 AND 50

Although this would be more convenient, SQL server will return the following error in this case:

Msg 4108, Level 15, State 1, Line 6

Windowed functions can only appear in the SELECT or ORDER BY clauses.

Pagination with OFFSET FETCH

The OFFSET FETCH clause implements pagination in a more concise manner. With it, it’s possible to skip N1 rows (specified in OFFSET) and return the next N2 rows (specified in FETCH):

SELECT *
FROM sys.objects
ORDER BY object_id
OFFSET 40 ROWS FETCH NEXT 10 ROWS ONLY

The ORDER BY clause is required in order to provide deterministic results.

Paginaton with inner query

In earlier versions of SQL Server, developers had to use double sorting combined with the TOP keyword to return rows in a page:

 SELECT TOP 10 *
 FROM
 (
    SELECT
    TOP 50 object_id,
        name,
        type,
        create_date
    FROM sys.objects
    ORDER BY name ASC
) AS data
ORDER BY name DESC

The inner query will return the first 50 rows ordered by name. Then the outer query will reverse the order of these 50 rows and select the top 10 rows (these will be last 10 rows in the group before the reversal).

Paging in Various Versions of SQL Server

SQL Server 2012 / 2014

DECLARE @RowsPerPage INT = 10, @PageNumber INT = 4
SELECT OrderId, ProductId
FROM OrderDetail
ORDER BY OrderId
OFFSET (@PageNumber - 1) * @RowsPerPage ROWS
FETCH NEXT @RowsPerPage ROWS ONLY

SQL Server 2005/2008/R2

DECLARE @RowsPerPage INT = 10, @PageNumber INT = 4
SELECT OrderId, ProductId
FROM (
    SELECT OrderId, ProductId, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY OrderId) AS RowNum
    FROM OrderDetail) AS OD
WHERE OD.RowNum BETWEEN ((@PageNumber - 1 ) * @RowsPerPage) + 1
AND @RowsPerPage * @PageNumber

SQL Server 2000

DECLARE @RowsPerPage INT = 10, @PageNumber INT = 4
SELECT OrderId, ProductId
FROM (SELECT TOP (@RowsPerPage) OrderId, ProductId
        FROM (SELECT TOP ((@PageNumber)*@RowsPerPage) OrderId, ProductId
                FROM OrderDetail
                ORDER BY OrderId) AS OD
    ORDER BY OrderId DESC) AS OD2
ORDER BY OrderId ASC

SQL Server 2012/2014 using ORDER BY OFFSET and FETCH NEXT

For getting the next 10 rows just run this query:

SELECT * FROM TableName ORDER BY id OFFSET 10 ROWS FETCH NEXT 10 ROWS ONLY;

Key points to consider when using it:

• ORDER BY is mandatory to use OFFSET and FETCH clause.
• OFFSET clause is mandatory with FETCH. You can never use, ORDER BY … FETCH.
• TOP cannot be combined with OFFSET and FETCH in the same query expression.