OFFSET

Understanding OFFSET

The OFFSET clause skips a specified number of results before returning data. Combined with LIMIT, it enables pagination - retrieving results in manageable chunks or "pages."

Key entities used in examples: wdt:P31 (instance of) links an item to its type, while wd:Q515 (city) and wd:Q6256 (country) are common type values. Other properties include wdt:P1082 (population), wdt:P2044 (elevation), wdt:P571 (inception), and wdt:P106 (occupation). Example values include wd:Q5 (human) and wd:Q36180 (writer).

Pagination Examples

SELECT ?country ?countryLabel
WHERE {
  ?country wdt:P31 wd:Q6256 .
  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY ?countryLabel
LIMIT 10
OFFSET 0

The pattern ?country wdt:P31 wd:Q6256 selects entities that are countries. Page 1 shows the first 10 countries alphabetically because LIMIT 10 is combined with OFFSET 0.

SELECT ?country ?countryLabel
WHERE {
  ?country wdt:P31 wd:Q6256 .
  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY ?countryLabel
LIMIT 10
OFFSET 10

Page 2 skips the first 10 results with OFFSET 10 and returns the next 10.

SELECT ?country ?countryLabel
WHERE {
  ?country wdt:P31 wd:Q6256 .
  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY ?countryLabel
LIMIT 10
OFFSET 40

Page 5 uses OFFSET 40 to skip 40 rows, then LIMIT 10 to show rows 41-50.

Pagination with Rankings

OFFSET is especially useful when combined with ORDER BY to create paginated rankings - showing the 11th-20th most populous cities, for example.

SELECT ?city ?cityLabel ?population
WHERE {
  ?city wdt:P31 wd:Q515 ;
        wdt:P1082 ?population .
  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY DESC(?population)
LIMIT 10
OFFSET 10

This query orders cities by population (descending) and uses OFFSET 10 with LIMIT 10 to return ranks 11-20.

SELECT ?mountain ?mountainLabel ?elevation
WHERE {
  ?mountain wdt:P31 wd:Q8502 ;
            wdt:P2044 ?elevation .
  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY DESC(?elevation)
LIMIT 10
OFFSET 20

Mountains are sorted by elevation (descending). OFFSET 20 skips the top 20 to show ranks 21-30.

Skip-Then-Sample Pattern

OFFSET can be used creatively to skip common results and find less-obvious examples in the data.

SELECT ?author ?authorLabel ?works
WHERE {
  ?author wdt:P31 wd:Q5 ;
          wdt:P106 wd:Q36180 .
  {
    SELECT ?author (COUNT(?work) AS ?works)
    WHERE {
      ?work wdt:P50 ?author .
    }
    GROUP BY ?author
  }
  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY DESC(?works)
LIMIT 10
OFFSET 100

The subquery counts works per author, then ORDER BY DESC(?works) ranks them. OFFSET 100 skips the most prolific authors to sample the next 10.

SELECT ?uni ?uniLabel ?founded
WHERE {
  ?uni wdt:P31 wd:Q3918 ;
       wdt:P571 ?founded .
  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY ?founded
LIMIT 20
OFFSET 50

Universities are ordered by founding date, so OFFSET 50 skips the oldest 50 before returning 20.

Important Considerations

OFFSET requires ORDER BY for consistent results. Without ordering, the same OFFSET may return different results each time. Also note that high OFFSET values can be slow - the database still processes all skipped rows.

# Always use ORDER BY with OFFSET for consistent results
SELECT ?item ?itemLabel
WHERE {
  ?item wdt:P31 wd:Q6256 .
  SERVICE wikibase:label {
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en" .
  }
}
ORDER BY ?item  # Order by URI for stable results
LIMIT 10
OFFSET 30

ORDER BY ?item gives a stable, repeatable order so the same OFFSET returns consistent pages.