Starting from Oracle 12c R1 (12.1), there is a row limiting clause. It does not use familiar LIMIT syntax, but it can do the job better with more options. You can find the full syntax here. (Also read more on how this works internally in Oracle in this answer).
To answer the original question, here’s the query:
SELECT * FROM sometable ORDER BY name OFFSET 20 ROWS FETCH NEXT 10 ROWS ONLY;
(For earlier Oracle versions, please refer to other answers in this question)
Examples:
Following examples were quoted from linked page, in the hope of preventing link rot.
Setup
CREATE TABLE rownum_order_test ( val NUMBER ); INSERT ALL INTO rownum_order_test SELECT level FROM dual CONNECT BY level <= 10; COMMIT;
What’s in the table?
SELECT val
FROM rownum_order_test
ORDER BY val;
VAL
----------
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
9
10
10
20 rows selected.
Get first N rows
SELECT val
FROM rownum_order_test
ORDER BY val DESC
FETCH FIRST 5 ROWS ONLY;
VAL
----------
10
10
9
9
8
5 rows selected.
Get first N rows, if Nth row has ties, get all the tied rows
SELECT val
FROM rownum_order_test
ORDER BY val DESC
FETCH FIRST 5 ROWS WITH TIES;
VAL
----------
10
10
9
9
8
8
6 rows selected.
Top x% of rows
SELECT val
FROM rownum_order_test
ORDER BY val
FETCH FIRST 20 PERCENT ROWS ONLY;
VAL
----------
1
1
2
2
4 rows selected.
Using an offset, very useful for pagination
SELECT val
FROM rownum_order_test
ORDER BY val
OFFSET 4 ROWS FETCH NEXT 4 ROWS ONLY;
VAL
----------
3
3
4
4
4 rows selected.
You can combine offset with percentages
SELECT val
FROM rownum_order_test
ORDER BY val
OFFSET 4 ROWS FETCH NEXT 20 PERCENT ROWS ONLY;
VAL
----------
3
3
4
4
4 rows selected.