Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, Second Edition

Working with Cursors

Using cursors involves several distinct steps:

• Before a cursor can be used it must be declared (defined). This process does not actually retrieve any data, it merely defines the SELECT statement to be used and any cursor options.
• Once it is declared, the cursor must be opened for use. This process actually retrieves the data using the previously defined SELECT statement.
• With the cursor populated with data, individual rows can be fetched (retrieved) as needed.
• When it is done, the cursor must be closed and possibly deallocated (depending on the DBMS).

Once a cursor is declared, it may be opened and closed as often as needed. Once it is open, fetch operations can be performed as often as needed.

Creating Cursors

Cursors are created ...