How do I limit the number of rows returned by a query after ordering in SQL Server?

 To limit the number of rows returned by a query after ordering in SQL Server, you can use the "TOP" clause in your query. This clause specifies the number of rows that should be returned from the result set after sorting. Here's an example query:

sql
SELECT TOP 10 column1, column2, column3
FROM your_table
ORDER BY column1;

In this example, the query will return the first 10 rows of the result set after sorting by "column1". You can adjust the number of rows returned by changing the number after the "TOP" keyword. If you want to return a percentage of the rows, you can use the "TOP" keyword followed by a percentage value, like this:

sql
SELECT TOP 10 PERCENT column1, column2, column3
FROM your_table
ORDER BY column1;

This query will return the top 10% of the rows in the result set after sorting by "column1". You can adjust the percentage by changing the value after the "TOP" keyword.