MySQL Query with multiple LIMITS

Question

Let\'s say I have the following table with hundreds of toys of various colors...

---------------------------
  ITEM  |  COST  |  COLOR
----------------------         


        

Answer 1

For me the solution is create 3 different queries and merge the 3 arrays in PHP

Answer 2

Well, IMHO, you were given 2 options here, however, I'll still go by merging the arrays as it won't take so many time/system resources like UNION. (Based on that you've said the table has a LOT of rows)

Answer 3

ROW_NUMBER() could be used:

SELECT *
FROM (SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY COLOR ORDER BY COST) AS RN
      FROM TOYS
      WHERE COLOR IN ('YELLOW', 'WHITE', 'BLUE')) sub
WHERE RN <= CASE COLOR WHEN 'YELLOW' THEN 1 WHEN 'WHITE' THEN 3 WHEN 'BLUE' THEN 2 END  

Answer 4

Why not?

select * from toys where color = 'Yellow' (LIMIT 1)
UNION
select * from toys where color = 'White' (LIMIT 3)
UNION
select * from toys where color = 'Blue' (LIMIT 2)

Answer 5

This is working properly

(select * from toys where color = 'Yellow' LIMIT 1)
UNION ALL
(select * from toys where color = 'White' LIMIT 1)