MainframeMaster
Thread: DB2

What is a cursor? Why not just SELECT into variables?

Started by Jordan • user2 replies186 viewsLast activity 2 weeks ago
Post #1
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Jordan
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Joined: May 2, 2026, 11:10 AM
Posted: Jul 30, 2026, 1:51 PM

Single-row SELECT INTO makes sense. For many rows people say DECLARE CURSOR / OPEN / FETCH / CLOSE.

Is a cursor just a pointer walking the result set?

Post #2
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Omar
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Joined: Jan 7, 2025, 10:05 AM
Posted: Jul 30, 2026, 3:51 PM

Yeah. SELECT INTO expects one row (or you handle -811). Cursor is how batch COBOL walks many rows: OPEN, FETCH until SQLCODE 100, CLOSE.

Remember to check SQLCODE on each FETCH.

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