select top N entries from several groups - Mailing list pgsql-novice

Hi,

Suppose I have a table (called temp) like this:

gp    val
A    10
A    8
A    6
A    4
B    3
B    2
B    1
B    0

How can I get the largest two values for each group in a single pass? I
want to end up with:

gp    val
A    10
A    8
B    3
B    2

I can do this a group at a time using...

SELECT gp, val FROM temp where gp = 'A' ORDER BY val DESC LIMIT 2;

... and then insert the results from each group into a final table. Can
I get it in one go?

Thanks,
David