SELECT  x.*
FROM    (
        SELECT  section_id,
                COALESCE
                (
                (
                SELECT  xi
                FROM    xxx xi
                WHERE   xi.section_id = xo.section_id
                ORDER BY
                        name, id
                OFFSET 1 LIMIT 1
                ),
                (
                SELECT  xi
                FROM    xxx xi
                WHERE   xi.section_id = xo.section_id
                ORDER BY 
                        name DESC, id DESC
                LIMIT 1
                )
                ) AS mlast
        FROM    (
                SELECT  DISTINCT section_id
                FROM    xxx
                ) xo
        ) xoo
JOIN    xxx x
ON      x.section_id = xoo.section_id
        AND (x.name, x.id) <= ((mlast).name, (mlast).id)

        -- ranking without WINDOW functions
-- EXPLAIN ANALYZE
WITH rnk AS (
        SELECT x1.id
        , COUNT(x2.id) AS rnk
        FROM xxx x1
        LEFT JOIN xxx x2 ON x1.section_id = x2.section_id AND x2.name <= x1.name
        GROUP BY x1.id
        )
SELECT this.*
FROM xxx this
JOIN rnk ON rnk.id = this.id
WHERE rnk.rnk <=2
ORDER BY this.section_id, rnk.rnk
        ;

        -- The same without using a CTE
-- EXPLAIN ANALYZE
SELECT this.*
FROM xxx this
JOIN ( SELECT x1.id
        , COUNT(x2.id) AS rnk
        FROM xxx x1
        LEFT JOIN xxx x2 ON x1.section_id = x2.section_id AND x2.name <= x1.name
        GROUP BY x1.id
        ) rnk
ON rnk.id = this.id
WHERE rnk.rnk <=2
ORDER BY this.section_id, rnk.rnk
        ;

新解决方案(PostgreSQL 8.4)

SELECT
  * 
FROM (
  SELECT
    ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY section_id ORDER BY name) AS r,
    t.*
  FROM
    xxx t) x
WHERE
  x.r <= 2;

横向连接是可行的方法，但您应该首先执行嵌套查询，以提高大型表的性能。

SELECT t_limited.*
FROM (
        SELECT DISTINCT section_id
        FROM t
    ) t_groups
    JOIN LATERAL (
        SELECT *
        FROM t t_all
        WHERE t_all.section_id = t_groups.section_id
        ORDER BY t_all.name
        LIMIT 2
    ) t_limited ON true

如果没有嵌套的选择distinct，则连接横向对表中的每一行运行，即使section_id经常是重复的。由于嵌套的选择是不同的，联接横向操作将为每个不同的section_id运行一次且仅运行一次。

从v9.3开始，您可以执行横向连接

select distinct t_outer.section_id, t_top.id, t_top.name from t t_outer
join lateral (
    select * from t t_inner
    where t_inner.section_id = t_outer.section_id
    order by t_inner.name
    limit 2
) t_top on true
order by t_outer.section_id;

这样做可能更快，但是当然，您应该针对您的数据和用例专门测试性能。

这里是另一个解决方案(PostgreSQL <= 8.3)。

SELECT
  *
FROM
  xxx a
WHERE (
  SELECT
    COUNT(*)
  FROM
    xxx
  WHERE
    section_id = a.section_id
  AND
    name <= a.name
) <= 2