how can I Update top 100 records in sql server

Question

I want to update the top 100 records in SQL Server. I have a table T1 with fields F1 and F2. T1 has 200 records. I want

Answer 1

Without an ORDER BY the whole idea of TOP doesn't make much sense. You need to have a consistent definition of which direction is "up" and which is "down" for the concept of top to be meaningful.

Nonetheless SQL Server allows it but doesn't guarantee a deterministic result.

The UPDATE TOP syntax in the accepted answer does not support an ORDER BY clause but it is possible to get deterministic semantics here by using a CTE or derived table to define the desired sort order as below.

;WITH CTE AS 
( 
SELECT TOP 100 * 
FROM T1 
ORDER BY F2 
) 
UPDATE CTE SET F1='foo'