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`ORDER BY` and `LIMIT` are often used **together** to get **only the needed number of rows** after sorting.

### Syntax

```sql
SELECT *
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name [ASC|DESC]
LIMIT count;
```

### Example 1: top 5 by salary

```sql
SELECT name, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY salary DESC
LIMIT 5;
```

SQL first sorts all employees by salary, from largest to smallest,
then returns **only the first 5 rows** (the top 5 highest salaries).

### Example 2: earliest dates

```sql
SELECT event_name, date
FROM events
ORDER BY date ASC
LIMIT 10;
```

Returns the 10 earliest events.

### Example 3: together with OFFSET

To **skip** the first rows and take the next ones:

```sql
SELECT name, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY salary DESC
LIMIT 5 OFFSET 5;
```

Skips the first 5 and returns **the next 5**, useful for pagination.

**Summary:**

- `ORDER BY` sets the **order**,
- `LIMIT` restricts the **row count**,
- together they let you get, for example, the *top N records* or the *first results from a sorted list*.

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