最后的例子说明内部循环包含排序的情况：
SQL> CREATE TABLE T AS SELECT * FROM DBA_OBJECTS;
表已创建。
SQL> CREATE INDEX IND_T_OBJECT_NAME ON T (OBJECT_NAME);
索引已创建。
SQL> ALTER TABLE T MODIFY OBJECT_NAME NOT NULL;
表已更改。
SQL> EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS(USER, 'T')
PL/SQL 过程已成功完成。
下面进行测试包含排序操作的分页查询。可以简单的将查询分为两种不同情况，第一种排序列就是索引列，这种可以利用索引读取，第二种排序列没有索引。
第一种情况又可以细分为：完全索引扫描和通过索引扫描定位到表记录两种情况。
无论是那种情况，都可以通过索引的全扫描来避免排序的产生。看下面的例子：
SQL> SET AUTOT TRACE
SQL> SELECT OBJECT_NAME
2 FROM
3 (
4 SELECT ROWNUM RN, OBJECT_NAME
5 FROM
6 (
7 SELECT OBJECT_NAME FROM T ORDER BY OBJECT_NAME
8 )
9 WHERE ROWNUM <= 20
10 )
11 WHERE RN >= 11;
已选择10行。
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE (Cost=26 Card=20 Bytes=1580)
1 0 VIEW (Cost=26 Card=20 Bytes=1580)
2 1 COUNT (STOPKEY)
3 2 VIEW (Cost=26 Card=6361 Bytes=419826)
4 3 INDEX (FULL SCAN) OF 'IND_T_OBJECT_NAME' (NON-UNIQUE) (Cost=26 Card=6361 Bytes=108137)
Statistics
----------------------------------------------------------
0 recursive calls
0 db block gets
3 consistent gets
0 physical reads
0 redo size
576 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
503 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
2 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
0 sorts (memory)
0 sorts (disk)
10 rows processed
这种情况下，通过索引可以完全得到查询的结果，因此可以避免表扫描的产生，而且，由于索引已经是排序过的，因此通过索引的全扫描，连排序操作都省略了。
SQL> SELECT OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME
2 FROM
3 (
4 SELECT ROWNUM RN, OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME
5 FROM
6 (
7 SELECT OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME FROM T ORDER BY OBJECT_NAME
8 )
9 WHERE ROWNUM <= 20
10 )
11 WHERE RN >= 11;
已选择10行。
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE (Cost=43 Card=20 Bytes=1840)
1 0 VIEW (Cost=43 Card=20 Bytes=1840)
2 1 COUNT (STOPKEY)
3 2 VIEW (Cost=43 Card=6361 Bytes=502519)
4 3 SORT (ORDER BY STOPKEY) (Cost=43 Card=6361 Bytes=133581)
5 4 TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'T' (Cost=9 Card=6361 Bytes=133581)
Statistics
----------------------------------------------------------
0 recursive calls
0 db block gets
81 consistent gets
0 physical reads
0 redo size
673 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
503 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
2 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
1 sorts (memory)
0 sorts (disk)
10 rows processed
由于不能仅仅通过索引扫描得到查询结果，这里Oracle选择了表扫描。这是由于初始化参数设置决定的。因此，建议在分页的时候使用FIRST_ROWS提示。
SQL> SELECT /*+ FIRST_ROWS */ OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME
2 FROM
3 (
4 SELECT ROWNUM RN, OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME
5 FROM
6 (
7 SELECT OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME FROM T ORDER BY OBJECT_NAME
8 )
9 WHERE ROWNUM <= 20
10 )
11 WHERE RN >= 11;
已选择10行。
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=HINT: FIRST_ROWS (Cost=826 Card=20 Bytes=1840)
1 0 VIEW (Cost=826 Card=20 Bytes=1840)
2 1 COUNT (STOPKEY)
3 2 VIEW (Cost=826 Card=6361 Bytes=502519)
4 3 TABLE ACCESS (BY INDEX ROWID) OF 'T' (Cost=826 Card=6361 Bytes=133581)
5 4 INDEX (FULL SCAN) OF 'IND_T_OBJECT_NAME' (NON-UNIQUE) (Cost=26 Card=6361)
Statistics
----------------------------------------------------------
0 recursive calls
0 db block gets
22 consistent gets
0 physical reads
0 redo size
673 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
503 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
2 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
0 sorts (memory)
0 sorts (disk)
10 rows processed
使用了FIRST_ROWS提示后，Oracle不需要扫描全表，而且避免了排序操作。
下面讨论最后一种情况，排序列不是索引列。这个时候排序不可避免，但是利用给出分页格式，Oracle不会对所有数据进行排序，而是只排序前N条记录。
SQL> SELECT OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME
2 FROM
3 (
4 SELECT ROWNUM RN, OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME
5 FROM
6 (
7 SELECT OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME FROM T ORDER BY TIMESTAMP
8 )
9 )
10 WHERE RN BETWEEN 11 AND 20;
已选择10行。
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=585212)
1 0 VIEW (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=585212)
2 1 COUNT
3 2 VIEW (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=502519)
4 3 SORT (ORDER BY) (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=260801)
5 4 TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'T' (Cost=9 Card=6361 Bytes=260801)
Statistics
----------------------------------------------------------
0 recursive calls
0 db block gets
81 consistent gets
0 physical reads
0 redo size
690 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
503 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
2 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
1 sorts (memory)
0 sorts (disk)
10 rows processed
SQL> SELECT OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME
2 FROM
3 (
4 SELECT ROWNUM RN, OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME
5 FROM
6 (
7 SELECT OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME FROM T ORDER BY TIMESTAMP
8 )
9 WHERE ROWNUM <= 20
10 )
11 WHERE RN >= 11;
已选择10行。
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE (Cost=64 Card=20 Bytes=1840)
1 0 VIEW (Cost=64 Card=20 Bytes=1840)
2 1 COUNT (STOPKEY)
3 2 VIEW (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=502519)
4 3 SORT (ORDER BY STOPKEY) (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=260801)
5 4 TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'T' (Cost=9 Card=6361 Bytes=260801)
Statistics
----------------------------------------------------------
0 recursive calls
0 db block gets
81 consistent gets
0 physical reads
0 redo size
690 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
503 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
2 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
1 sorts (memory)
0 sorts (disk)
10 rows processed
观察两种不同写法的ORDER BY步骤，一个是带STOPKEY的ORDER BY，另一个不带。在大数据量需要排序的情况下，带STOPKEY的效率要比不带STOPKEY排序的效率高得多。
SQL> INSERT INTO T SELECT T.* FROM T, USER_OBJECTS;
已创建407104行。
SQL> COMMIT;
提交完成。
SQL> SELECT OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME
2 FROM
3 (
4 SELECT ROWNUM RN, OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME FROM
5 (
6 SELECT OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME FROM T ORDER BY TIMESTAMP
7 )
8 WHERE ROWNUM <= 20
9 )
10 WHERE RN >= 11;
已选择10行。
已用时间: 00: 00: 03.78
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE (Cost=64 Card=20 Bytes=1840)
1 0 VIEW (Cost=64 Card=20 Bytes=1840)
2 1 COUNT (STOPKEY)
3 2 VIEW (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=502519)
4 3 SORT (ORDER BY STOPKEY) (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=260801)
5 4 TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'T' (Cost=9 Card=6361 Bytes=260801)
Statistics
----------------------------------------------------------
268 recursive calls
0 db block gets
6215 consistent gets
6013 physical reads
0 redo size
740 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
385 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
2 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
6 sorts (memory)
0 sorts (disk)
10 rows processed
SQL> SELECT OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME
2 FROM
3 (
4 SELECT ROWNUM RN, OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME FROM
5 (
6 SELECT OBJECT_ID, OBJECT_NAME FROM T ORDER BY TIMESTAMP
7 )
8 )
9 WHERE RN BETWEEN 11 AND 20;
已选择10行。
已用时间: 00: 00: 11.86
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=585212)
1 0 VIEW (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=585212)
2 1 COUNT
3 2 VIEW (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=502519)
4 3 SORT (ORDER BY) (Cost=64 Card=6361 Bytes=260801)
5 4 TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'T' (Cost=9 Card=6361 Bytes=260801)
Statistics
----------------------------------------------------------
26 recursive calls
12 db block gets
6175 consistent gets
9219 physical reads
0 redo size
737 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
385 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
2 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
0 sorts (memory)
1 sorts (disk)
10 rows processed
观察两个查询语句的执行时间，以及统计信息中的排序信息。对于第一个查询语句，Oracle利用了ORDER BY STOPKEY方式进行排序，排序操作只排序需要的TOP N的数据，因此排序操作放到了内存中，而对于第二个查询语句来说，进行的数据的全排序，排序数据量大，排序操作不得不在磁盘上完成，因此耗时比较多。
通过上面的例子可以看出给出的标准分页查询格式，对于包含排序的操作仍然可以在很大程度上提高分页查询性能。
