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The Daily Insight

How do I update my cursor

Author

Mia Kelly

Published Mar 03, 2026

You can update rows of data as you retrieve them by using a cursor. On the select-statement, use FOR UPDATE OF followed by a list of columns that may be updated. Then use the cursor-controlled UPDATE statement. The WHERE CURRENT OF clause names the cursor that points to the row you want to update.

How do I change the cursor in Oracle?

In the Theme tab, click the Customize button to open the Customize Theme dialog. In the Customize Theme dialog, select the Pointers tab.

Are Oracle cursors bad?

6 Answers. What’s wrong with cursors is that they are often abused, both in Oracle and in MS SQL . Cursor are for keeping a stable resultset which you can retrieve row-by-row. They are implicitly created when your query is run, and closed when it’s finished.

What is for update clause in cursor?

The FOR UPDATE clause is an optional part of a SELECT statement. Cursors are read-only by default. The FOR UPDATE clause specifies that the cursor should be updatable, and enforces a check during compilation that the SELECT statement meets the requirements for an updatable cursor.

Can we use cursor for update in SQL?

Simple cursor in SQL server to update rows When doing a cursor update the CURRENT OF keyword is used to update the current row. If a cursor definition has a query with multiple tables then only the table used in update statement is affected.

Can we use cursor in function Oracle?

If you declare a cursor in an anonymous block, procedure, or function, the cursor will automatically be closed when the execution of these objects end. However, you must explicitly close package-based cursors. Note that if you close a cursor that has not opened yet, Oracle will raise an INVALID_CURSOR exception.

What are the different types of cursor in SQL Server?

  • Transact-SQL cursors. Transact-SQL cursors are based on the DECLARE CURSOR syntax and used mainly in Transact-SQL scripts, stored procedures, and triggers. …
  • Application programming interface (API) server cursors. …
  • Client cursors. …
  • Forward-only. …
  • Static. …
  • Keyset. …
  • Dynamic.

What is cursor in SQL Oracle?

A cursor is a pointer to this context area. PL/SQL controls the context area through a cursor. A cursor holds the rows (one or more) returned by a SQL statement. The set of rows the cursor holds is referred to as the active set.

How does cursor work in Oracle?

To execute a multi-row query, Oracle opens an unnamed work area that stores processing information. A cursor lets you name the work area, access the information, and process the rows individually. For more information, see “Querying Data with PL/SQL”.

What is select for update Oracle?

Description. The SELECT FOR UPDATE statement allows you to lock the records in the cursor result set. You are not required to make changes to the records in order to use this statement. The record locks are released when the next commit or rollback statement is issued.

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What is the best way to update millions of records in Oracle?

  1. Update each record individually and COMMIT in FOR LOOP.
  2. Update each record individually in FOR LOOP but COMMIT after the loop.
  3. BULK UPDATE using BULK COLLECT and FOR ALL.
  4. DIRECT UPDATE SQL.
  5. MERGE STATEMENT.
  6. UPDATE using INLINE View Method.

What happens if commit is used when for update cursor is open?

If you commit while a FOR UPDATE cursor is open, a subsequent fetch on that cursor raises an exception. The cursor remains open, so you should still close it. For more information, see “Using FOR UPDATE”.

Why cursor should not be used?

Cursors are used to fetch single rows from the result set returned by a query and allow the row-by-row iteration through the result set, whereas set based processing can be much faster. Cursors can also cause transactional problems because of the run time.

What is shared cursor in Oracle?

CURSOR_SHARING determines what kind of SQL statements can share the same cursors. … If you set CURSOR_SHARING , then Oracle recommends the FORCE setting unless you are in a DSS environment. FORCE limits the growth of child cursors that can occur when the setting is SIMILAR .

Can cursor be part of a trigger body?

SQL Statements Allowed in Trigger Bodies statements or the SELECT statement in the definition of a cursor. DDL statements are not allowed in the body of a trigger. Also, no transaction control statements are allowed in a trigger.

What data types are available in Oracle?

  • CHAR.
  • NCHAR.
  • VARCHAR2 and VARCHAR.
  • NVARCHAR2.
  • CLOB.
  • NCLOB.
  • LONG.

What is select for update?

The SELECT FOR UPDATE statement is used to order transactions by controlling concurrent access to one or more rows of a table. It works by locking the rows returned by a selection query, such that other transactions trying to access those rows are forced to wait for the transaction that locked the rows to finish.

How can use cursor in SQL Server stored procedure?

  1. Declare a cursor that defines a result set.
  2. Open the cursor to establish the result set.
  3. Fetch the data into local variables as needed from the cursor, one row at a time.
  4. Close the cursor when done.

What is cursor and its types in Oracle?

When an SQL statement is processed, Oracle creates a memory area known as context area. A cursor is a pointer to this context area. … A cursor is used to referred to a program to fetch and process the rows returned by the SQL statement, one at a time. There are two types of cursors: Implicit Cursors.

Can we use cursor in function SQL Server?

SQL Server supports three functions that can help you while working with cursors: @@FETCH_STATUS, @@CURSOR_ROWS, and CURSOR_STATUS. Cursor functions are non-deterministic. In order to understand how cursor functions work, you must first be familiar with the cursor’s life cycle.

How many types of cursor are there?

There are 2 types of Cursors: Implicit Cursors, and Explicit Cursors. These are explained as following below.

How do I execute a cursor in Oracle SQL Developer?

  1. DECLARE the cursor in the Declaration section.
  2. OPEN the cursor in the Execution Section.
  3. FETCH the data from the cursor into PL/SQL variables or records in the Execution Section.
  4. CLOSE the cursor in the Execution Section before you end the PL/SQL Block.

How do I use cursor to fetch multiple records?

  1. Specify the cursor using a DECLARE CURSOR statement.
  2. Perform the query and build the result table using the OPEN statement.
  3. Retrieve rows one at a time using the FETCH statement.
  4. Process rows with the DELETE or UPDATE statements (if required).
  5. Terminate the cursor using the CLOSE statement.

What is open cursor in Oracle?

The OPEN_CURSORS parameter sets the maximum number of cursors that each session can have open, per session. For example, if the value of OPEN_CURSORS is set to 1000, then each session can have up to 1000 cursors open at one time.

How many rows can a cursor hold?

A cursor can hold more than one row, but can process only one row at a time. The set of rows the cursor holds is called the active set.

Which type of cursor is automatically declared?

Which type of cursor is automatically declared by Oracle every time an SQL statement is executed? The implicit cursor are automatically created.

What happens when a cursor is declared?

The DECLARE CURSOR statement associates a cursor name with a SELECT statement (as described in SELECT (Interactive)). Assigns a name to the cursor. The name can be specified using a quoted or unquoted string literal or a host language string variable.

How do cursors work in SQL?

In SQL procedures, a cursor makes it possible to define a result set (a set of data rows) and perform complex logic on a row by row basis. … A cursor can be viewed as a pointer to one row in a set of rows. The cursor can only reference one row at a time, but can move to other rows of the result set as needed.

What is implicit cursor?

An implicit cursor has attributes that return information about the most recently run SELECT or DML statement that is not associated with a named cursor. Note: You can use cursor attributes only in procedural statements, not in SQL statements.

What is row lock in Oracle?

Row-level locks are primarily used to prevent two transactions from modifying the same row. When a transaction needs to modify a row, a row lock is acquired. There is no limit to the number of row locks held by a statement or transaction, and Oracle does not escalate locks from the row level to a coarser granularity.

Does select for update block insert?

FOR UPDATE with INSERT will work. On the default isolation level, SELECT … FOR UPDATE on a non-existent record does not block other transactions.