Getting Top N Value using SQL

Question

There are thousands of records in a table. The table has column TOTAL_NUMBER. I want to find the top 3rd using the column TOTAL_NUMBER. How can I do this using SQL?

Answer 1

Google:
Using RANK() to Obtain a Top-N Query
To obtain a top-N query, use RANK() in a subquery and then apply a filter condition outside the subquery:
SELECT Empno, Ename, Job, Mgr, Hiredate, Sal
FROM
(SELECT Empno, Ename, Job, Mgr, Hiredate, Sal,
RANK() OVER
(ORDER BY SAL Desc NULLS LAST) AS Emp_Rank
FROM Emp
ORDER BY SAL Desc NULLS LAST)
WHERE Emp_Rank < 6;