Finding nth row using sql - sql

Question

select top 20 *
from dbo.DUTs D
inner join dbo.Statuses S on d.StatusID = s.StatusID
where s.Description = 'Active'
Above SQL Query returns the top 20 rows, how can I get a nth row from the result of the above query? I looked at previous posts on finding the nth row and was not clear to use it for my purpose.
Thanks.

Answer 1

The row order is arbitrary, so I would add an ORDER BY expression. Then, you can do something like this:
SELECT TOP 1 * FROM (SELECT TOP 20 * FROM ... ORDER BY d.StatusID) AS d ORDER BY d.StatusID DESC
to get the 20th row.
You can also use OFFSET like:
SELECT * FROM ... ORDER BY d.StatusID OFFSET 19 ROWS FETCH NEXT 1 ROWS ONLY
And a third option:
SELECT * FROM (SELECT *, rownum = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY d.StatusID) FROM ...) AS a WHERE rownum = 20

Answer 2

I tend to use CTEs with the ROW_NUMBER() function to get my lists numbered in order. As #zambonee said, you'll need an ORDER BY clause either way or SQL can put them in a different order every time. It doesn't usually, but without ordering it yourself, you're not guaranteed to get the same thing twice. Here I'm assuming there's a [DateCreated] field (DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT GETDATE()), which is usually a good idea so you know when that record was entered. This says "give me everything in that table and add a row number with the most recent record as #1":
; WITH AllDUTs
AS (
SELECT *
, DateCreatedRank = ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY [DateCreated] DESC)
FROM dbo.DUTs D
INNER JOIN dbo.Statuses S ON D.StatusID = S.StatusID
WHERE S.Description = 'Active'
)
SELECT *
FROM AllDUTs
WHERE AllDUTs.DateCreatedRank = 20;

Answer 3

SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM EMP ORDER BY ROWID DESC) WHERE ROWNUM<11

Answer 4

It's another sample:
SELECT * ,CASE WHEN COUNT(0)OVER() =ROW_NUMBER()OVER(ORDER BY number) THEN 1 ELSE 0 END IsNth
FROM (
select top 10 *
from master.dbo.spt_values AS d
where d.type='P'
) AS t
+------+--------+------+-----+------+--------+-------+
| name | number | type | low | high | status | IsNth |
+------+--------+------+-----+------+--------+-------+
| NULL | 0 | P | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| NULL | 1 | P | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| NULL | 2 | P | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| NULL | 3 | P | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| NULL | 4 | P | 1 | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| NULL | 5 | P | 1 | 32 | 0 | 0 |
| NULL | 6 | P | 1 | 64 | 0 | 0 |
| NULL | 7 | P | 1 | 128 | 0 | 0 |
| NULL | 8 | P | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| NULL | 9 | P | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
+------+--------+------+-----+------+--------+-------+