Is MySQL LIMIT applied before or after ORDER BY?

The MySQL LIMIT is applied after ORDER BY. Let us check the limit condition. Firstly, we will create a table −

mysql> create table LimitAfterOrderBy    −> (    −> Id int,    −> Name varchar(100)    −> ); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.50 sec)

Insert some records in the table using insert command. The query is as follows −

mysql> insert into LimitAfterOrderBy values(101,'John'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.18 sec) mysql> insert into LimitAfterOrderBy values(102,'Carol'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.15 sec) mysql> insert into LimitAfterOrderBy values(103,'Bob'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.21 sec) mysql> insert into LimitAfterOrderBy values(104,'Sam'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.15 sec)

Display all records from the table using select statement. The query is as follows −

mysql> select *from LimitAfterOrderBy;

The following is the output −

+------+-------+ | Id   | Name | +------+-------+ | 101  | John  | | 102  | Carol | | 103  | Bob   | | 104  | Sam   | +------+-------+ 4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Here is the query when LIMIT comes after ORDER BY −

mysql> select *from LimitAfterOrderBy order by Name limit 4;

The following is the output −

+------+-------+ | Id   | Name  | +------+-------+ |  103 | Bob | |  102 | Carol | |  101 | John | |  104 | Sam | +------+-------+ 4 rows in set (0.00 sec)