Re: How Can I Select a Specific Number of Rows Using a Sorting Criterion?

Helge wrote:
> I'd like to do something like this:
>
> insert into temp_table_1 select id_number, criterion from source_view
> order by criterion ;
> insert into temp_table_2 select id_number, criterion from temp_table_2
> where rownum <= 5000 ;
>
> Of course, the order by clause isn't allowed in a subquery.
>
> Instead I've come up with a brute force method, which is to mark all
> rows that I want to include, count the marked rows, and if they aren't
> enough increase the selection criterion by one step and mark the rows
> again. Repeat until the count is large enough. It's not very elegant,
> but it's the only method I could think of.
>
> Does anyone else have a better way to do this?

What does a subquery have to do with anything you posted?

And does your Oracle installation have a version number?

-- 
Daniel A. Morgan
University of Washington
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace x with u to respond)
Puget Sound Oracle Users Group
www.psoug.org