This example limits SELECT result to 15 percentage of total row count.

SELECT TOP 15 PERCENT *
FROM table_name

This example limits SELECT result to 100 rows.

SELECT TOP 100 *
FROM table_name;

It is also possible to use a variable to specify the number of rows:

DECLARE @CountDesiredRows int = 100;
SELECT TOP (@CountDesiredRows) *
FROM table_name;

FETCH is generally more useful for pagination, but can be used as an alternative to TOP:

SELECT *
FROM table_name
ORDER BY 1
OFFSET 0 ROWS
FETCH NEXT 50 ROWS ONLY

Parameters

Remarks

If ORDER BY clause is used, limiting applies to the ordered result set.