How to retrieve 3 max values

Question

Hi ,
can anyone let me know how to retrive the max 3 values from a table...
I want to get the top 3 values of salary from emp table
Thanks,
Praveen

Answer 1

Praveen,
Consider the following example:
SQL> set pagesize 9999
SQL> select empno, ename, sal
  2  from scott.emp;
     EMPNO ENAME             SAL
      7369 SMITH             800
      7499 ALLEN            1600
      7521 WARD             1250
      7566 JONES            2975
      7654 MARTIN           1250
      7698 BLAKE            2850
      7782 CLARK            2450
      7788 SCOTT            3000
      7839 KING             5000
      7844 TURNER           1500
      7876 ADAMS            1100
      7900 JAMES             950
      7902 FORD             3000
      7934 MILLER           1300If you want to get the top three salaries, you can use this query
SQL> select sal
  2  from
  3     (select distinct sal
  4       from scott.emp
  5     order by sal desc)
  6  where  rownum<=3;
       SAL
      5000
      3000
      2975If you want to see all the employees having any of top-3 salaries you can use the following one:
SQL> select empno, ename, sal
  2  from
  3     (select empno, ename, sal, dense_rank() over (order by sal desc) dr
  4      from scott.emp
  5     )
  6  where dr<=3;
     EMPNO ENAME             SAL
      7839 KING             5000
      7788 SCOTT            3000
      7902 FORD             3000
      7566 JONES            2975If you want to get the first 3 employees with the highest salaries. You can use the following one.
But, be aware, there might be more employees having $3000,00 salary.
SQL>  select empno, ename, sal
  2  from
  3     (select empno, ename, sal
  4      from scott.emp
  5     order by sal desc)
  6* where rownum<=3
SQL> /
     EMPNO ENAME             SAL
      7839 KING             5000
      7788 SCOTT            3000
      7902 FORD             3000
SQL>