Incorrect use of the TOP clause

Question

Hi
I need to demonstrate the use of the TOP clause, however when I run my SQL it says incorrect use of the clause.
Question: List the top 3 earners in the company( from the employees table). List employee_id, last_name, and the salary in descending order.
below is my attempt:
Select TOP 3 employee_id, last_name, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY salary DESC;
Any assistance will be appreciated
Thanks

Answer 1

Imtiyaaz wrote:
Ok i've tried this:
SELECT * from
( SELECT employee_id, last_name, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY salary
WHERE ROWNUM <= 3;
and it works but I need to display the salary in descending order, if I do this:
SELECT * from
( SELECT employee_id, last_name, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY salary DESC
WHERE ROWNUM <= 3;
it does not display the top 3 salaries anymore but rather the first 3 rows of the table...?Are you sure that what you ran is what you posted? It works correctly for me:
SQL > select * from (
  2  select employee_id, first_name, last_name, salary
  3  from hr.employees
  4  order by salary desc )
  5  where rownum <= 3;
EMPLOYEE_ID FIRST_NAME           LAST_NAME                     SALARY
        100 Steven               King                           24000
        101 Neena                Kochhar                        17000
        102 Lex                  De Haan                        17000John