SQL - Efficiently Paginate Query Results

When implementing pagination in SQL queries, use the OFFSET and LIMIT (or equivalent) clauses to efficiently retrieve subsets of data. Avoid retrieving all records at once and then filtering them in your application, as this can lead to performance issues when dealing with large datasets.

Example:
Suppose you have a table called "products," and you want to implement pagination to display 10 products per page.

Inefficient Query (Retrieving All Data):

SELECT *
FROM products;
-- Then, filter and paginate the data in your application.

Efficient Pagination Query (Using OFFSET and LIMIT):

SELECT *
FROM products
LIMIT 10
OFFSET 0; -- For the first page

-- For the second page:
SELECT *
FROM products
LIMIT 10
OFFSET 10;

-- For the third page:
SELECT *
FROM products
LIMIT 10
OFFSET 20;

By using the LIMIT and OFFSET clauses, you can retrieve only the necessary subset of data for each page. This approach is much more efficient than fetching all records and then discarding those you don't need, especially when dealing with large datasets.

Additionally, consider adding an ORDER BY clause to define the sorting order for consistent pagination results.