diff --git a/tools/shell/src/shellEngine.c b/tools/shell/src/shellEngine.c
index 8f0d39377e5abaccd626668d2b8138d324f1ff76..8b126cf90ee32f68299dc95ad2444803995f83c1 100644
--- a/tools/shell/src/shellEngine.c
+++ b/tools/shell/src/shellEngine.c
@@ -509,7 +509,7 @@ void shellPrintField(const char *val, TAOS_FIELD *field, int32_t width, int32_t
 
 bool shellIsLimitQuery(const char *sql) {
   //todo refactor
-  if (strstr(sql, "limit") != NULL || strstr(sql, "LIMIT") != NULL) {
+  if (strcasestr(sql, " limit ") != NULL) {
     return true;
   }