SQL - Select First

In SQL, there is no specific keyword or function for selecting the first record from a table, as the concept of "first" depends on the order of the records. However, you can achieve this by combining the SELECT statement with the ORDER BY clause and limiting the result set using the LIMIT or TOP clause, depending on the database system you are using.

SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1
LIMIT 1;

This query selects the first record from the table by ordering the results based on column1 in ascending order and limiting the result set to one row.

In Microsoft SQL Server, you can use the TOP clause:

SELECT TOP 1 column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1;

This query selects the first record from the table by ordering the results based on column1 and returning only the top 1 row.

It's important to note that without specifying an order in the ORDER BY clause, the concept of "first" becomes ambiguous, as the database does not guarantee any specific order for the records.