Just for reference, Informix 7.3 allows:

SELECT FIRST 20 FROM .... ORDER BY ...
SELECT FIRST_ROWS FROM .... ORDER BY ...

They both apply the ORDER BY clause to the result set that would be
returned if the FIRST directives were not used. The manual, "Informix
Guide to SQL: Syntax" available on their web site, states FIRST_ROWS
is a directive that tells the optimizer to choose a plan that is more
suitable for fetching only the first few rows.

Fred Toussi

--- In IBDI@y..., "Peter Morris" <pmorris@m...> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > You've mentioned First as used for sampling data at least twice
now. This
> > is not an sql standard and I've never heard of it before. Who
uses it
> like
> > this?
>
> In all honesty I cannot remember, but it isn't something I have
made up. I
> can distinctly remember reading about an SQL DB providing both TOP
and
> FIRST. They also make sense in an English speaking way too, TOP
would be
> more appropriate than FIRST.
>
> Pete
> ===
> http://www.HowToDoThings.com