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15 views2 pages

2 Cursors

Uploaded by

Sulbha Gath
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Explain Cursor in context to PL/SQL or what is a Cursor in PL/SQL

PL/SQL: Cursors and Their Types

What is a Cursor?

A cursor is like a bookmark you use to keep track of rows in a table. It allows us to go through
rows in a table one by one when we need to process each row individually.

 Implicit Cursors: Easy to use for simple tasks.


 Explicit Cursors: More powerful for row-by-row operations.

Types of Cursors

There are two main types of cursors:

Type Definition Created By


Implicit Automatically created by PL/SQL when a query is run. You Automatically by
don't write extra code for it. PL/SQL
Explicit You create and control it manually. Useful when you need to Created by the
process rows one by one. programmer

Implicit Cursor Example

When you run a simple query like INSERT, UPDATE, or SELECT INTO, PL/SQL automatically
creates an implicit cursor for you.

Example: Count the number of students in a table.

Code:

DECLARE
student_count NUMBER;
BEGIN
SELECT COUNT(*) INTO student_count FROM students;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Total students: ' || student_count);
END;

What Happens:

1. PL/SQL creates an implicit cursor for the SELECT statement.


2. The result (total number of students) is stored in student_count.
3. The program prints the total.

Unit: 4 - PL/SQL control statements and stored procedures Dr. Sulbha Gath Page 1
Explicit Cursor Example

Explicit cursors are created when you want to process rows one by one.

Example: Display names of all students.

Code:

DECLARE
CURSOR student_cursor IS
SELECT name FROM students;
student_name students.name%TYPE;
BEGIN
OPEN student_cursor;
LOOP
FETCH student_cursor INTO student_name;
EXIT WHEN student_cursor%NOTFOUND;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Student Name: ' || student_name);
END LOOP;
CLOSE student_cursor;
END;

What Happens:

1. CURSOR student_cursor IS SELECT name FROM students; : You define a cursor that
selects student names.
2. OPEN student_cursor;: Opens the cursor and gets it ready to fetch rows.
3. FETCH student_cursor INTO student_name;: Reads one row from the table into the
variable student_name.
4. LOOP ... END LOOP;: Repeats the process until all rows are processed.
5. CLOSE student_cursor;: Closes the cursor when done.

Key Differences Between Implicit and Explicit Cursors

Feature Implicit Cursor Explicit Cursor


Creation Automatically by PL/SQL Manually by the programmer
Control PL/SQL controls it Programmer has full control
Use Simple operations (e.g., SELECT Complex row-by-row operations
INTO)
Code Requires less code Requires more code (OPEN, FETCH,
Complexity CLOSE)

Unit: 4 - PL/SQL control statements and stored procedures Dr. Sulbha Gath Page 2

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