TABLE  table_name  [ORDER BY  column_name ] [LIMIT  number  [OFFSET  number ]] The  TABLE  statement in some ways acts like  SELECT . Given the existance of a table named  t , the following two statements produce identical output: TABLE t; SELECT * FROM t; You can order and limit the number of rows produced by  TABLE  using  ORDER BY  and  LIMIT  clauses, respectively. These function identically to the same clauses when used with  SELECT  (including an optional OFFSET  clause with  LIMIT ), as you can see here: 2700 mysql>  TABLE t; +----+----+ | a | b | +----+----+ | 1 | 2 | | 6 | 7 | | 9 | 5 | | 10 | -4 | | 11 | -1 | | 13 | 3 | | 14 | 6 | +----+----+ 7 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql>  TABLE t ORDER BY b; +----+----+ | a | b | +----+----+ | 10 | -4 | | 11 | -1 | | 1 | 2 | | 13 | 3 | | 9 | 5 | | 14 | 6 | | 6 | 7 | +----+----+ 7 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql>  TABLE t LIMIT 3; +---+---+ | a | b | +---+---+ | 1 | 2 | | 6 | 7 | | 9 | 5 | +---+---+ 3 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql>  TABLE t ORDER BY b LIMIT 3; +----+----+ | a | b | +----+----+ | 10 | -4 | | 11 | -1 | | 1 | 2 | +----+----+ 3 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql>  TABLE t ORDER BY b LIMIT 3 OFFSET 2; +----+----+ | a | b | +----+----+ | 1 | 2 | TABLE Statement