In Databricks, you can achieve the functionality of “SELECT TOP 5” (common in SQL Server or MS Access) using the following methods:

1. LIMIT Clause (Standard SQL):

SELECT * FROM your_table LIMIT 5;

This is the most direct and portable way to get the first 5 rows from your table.

2. TABLESAMPLE (For Approximate Results):

SELECT * FROM your_table TABLESAMPLE (5 ROWS);

This method is useful when you need a quick, approximate sample of the top rows and don’t require precise ordering.

Important Considerations:

• Ordering: If you need the top 5 rows based on a specific order, make sure to include an ORDER BY clause before the LIMIT.
• Performance: For large tables, using LIMIT with appropriate indexing is generally more efficient than TABLESAMPLE.
• Spark SQL: Databricks primarily uses Spark SQL, which supports both LIMIT and TABLESAMPLE.

Example with ORDER BY:

SELECT * FROM your_table ORDER BY some_column DESC LIMIT 5;

This will give you the top 5 rows based on the values in some_column, in descending order.