MS SQL Server Concepts and Programming Question:

If you want to use a cursor to represent the result set of a query, you need to define a cursor name with a SELECT sub-statement using the "DECLARE ... CURSOR" statement using the following syntax format:

DECLARE cursor_name CURSOR FOR
SELECT ...;

Note that the DECLARE statement will not actually execute the SELECT sub-statement. It only attaches the SELECT sub-statement to the cursor.

A cursor name should be deallocated to free up server resources if the cursor is not needed any more.

The tutorial example below shows you how to declare and deallocate a cursor.

USE GlobalGuideLineDatabase;
GO

DECLARE ggl_cursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT * FROM ggl_links;
-- other statements
DEALLOCATE ggl_cursor;
GO