The SQL FIRST() function returns the first value of the selected column.
SQL SELECT FIRST Syntax
Let’s check the syntax of the SQL SELECT FIRST() function:
SELECT FIRST(column_name) FROM table_name;
In this syntax,
- The function
FIRST()takescolumn_nameas a parameter. - column_name – The name of the column from which you want to check the first value.
- table_name – The name of the table from which you want to check the data.
Note that the first() function is only supported by MS Access. The function does not work with other database like Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle or MySQL.
SQL SELECT FIRST Example
We will consider below Employee table for our reference and example.
| emp_id | emp_name | emp_gender | dept_code | emp_location |
| 1510 | Avinash Sirsath | M | 101 | Mumbai |
| 1511 | Ramjan Ali | M | 105 | Kolkata |
| 1513 | Piyam mondal | M | 101 | Kolkata |
| 1514 | Jitu Garg | M | 104 | Mumbai |
| 1515 | Raman Sahani | M | 105 | Delhi |
| 1517 | Prakash Javedkar | M | 101 | Delhi |
| 1519 | Pallab Das | M | 103 | Kolkata |
| 1520 | Pankaj Sharma | M | 101 | Bangalore |
To get the first employee name from the Employee table, you can write the below query.
SELECT FIRST(emp_name) AS First_Employee FROM Employee;
Once the above query executed, it will show the below result.
Avinash Sirsath
Summary: In this tutorial, you have learned about the SQL SELECT FIRST() function. Note that this is only work with MS Access Database.