In Databricks, you use the LIMIT clause instead of SELECT TOP to get the first 10 rows of a table or result set.

Here’s the basic syntax:

SELECT column_name1, column_name2, ...
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name(s)  -- (Optional, to sort before limiting)
LIMIT 10;

Explanation:

1. SELECT: Specifies the columns you want to retrieve.
2. FROM: Specifies the table from which to retrieve the data.
3. ORDER BY: (Optional) Sorts the result set based on one or more columns. If you don’t use ORDER BY, the rows selected might be arbitrary.
4. LIMIT: Specifies the maximum number of rows to return (in this case, 10).

Example:

Let’s say you have a table named customers with columns customer_id, name, and email. To get the top 10 customers alphabetically by name:

SELECT customer_id, name, email
FROM customers
ORDER BY name
LIMIT 10;

Important Note:

• If you’re working with large datasets, using LIMIT without ORDER BY can lead to non-deterministic results. It’s generally recommended to use ORDER BY to ensure consistency.