Cursor Attribute
Every explicit cursor and cursor variable has four attributes, each of which returns useful information about the execution of a data manipulation statement.
Description of the illustration cursor_attribute.gif
Keyword and Parameter Descriptions
An explicit cursor previously declared within the current scope.
A PL/SQL cursor variable (or parameter) previously declared within the current scope.
A cursor attribute that can be appended to the name of a cursor or cursor variable. Before the first fetch from an open cursor, cursor_name%FOUND returns NULL. Afterward, it returns TRUE if the last fetch returned a row, or FALSE if the last fetch failed to return a row.
A cursor variable declared in a PL/SQL host environment and passed to PL/SQL as a bind argument. The data type of the host cursor variable is compatible with the return type of any PL/SQL cursor variable. Host variables must be prefixed with a colon.
A cursor attribute that can be appended to the name of a cursor or cursor variable. If a cursor is open, cursor_name%ISOPEN returns TRUE; otherwise, it returns FALSE.
A cursor attribute that can be appended to the name of a cursor or cursor variable. Before the first fetch from an open cursor, cursor_name%NOTFOUND returns NULL. Thereafter, it returns FALSE if the last fetch returned a row, or TRUE if the last fetch failed to return a row.
A cursor attribute that can be appended to the name of a cursor or cursor variable. When a cursor is opened, %ROWCOUNT is zeroed. Before the first fetch, cursor_name%ROWCOUNT returns 0. Thereafter, it returns the number of rows fetched so far. The number is incremented if the latest fetch returned a row.
The cursor attributes apply to every cursor or cursor variable. For example, you can open multiple cursors, then use %FOUND or %NOTFOUND to tell which cursors have rows left to fetch. Likewise, you can use %ROWCOUNT to tell how many rows were fetched so far.
If a cursor or cursor variable is not open, referencing it with %FOUND, %NOTFOUND, or %ROWCOUNT raises the predefined exception INVALID_CURSOR.
When a cursor or cursor variable is opened, the rows that satisfy the associated query are identified and form the result set. Rows are fetched from the result set one at a time.
If a SELECT INTO statement returns more than one row, PL/SQL raises the predefined exception TOO_MANY_ROWS and sets %ROWCOUNT to 1, not the actual number of rows that satisfy the query.
Before the first fetch, %NOTFOUND evaluates to NULL. If FETCH never executes successfully, the EXIT WHEN condition is never TRUE and the loop is never exited. To be safe, use the following EXIT statement instead:
EXIT WHEN c1%NOTFOUND OR c1%NOTFOUND IS NULL;
You can use the cursor attributes in procedural statements, but not in SQL statements.