PostgreSQL 13 Documentation: 51.68. pg_cursors

51.68. `pg_cursors`
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51.68. `pg_cursors`

The pg_cursors view lists the cursors that are currently available. Cursors can be defined in several ways:

via the DECLARE statement in SQL
via the Bind message in the frontend/backend protocol, as described in Section 52.2.3
via the Server Programming Interface (SPI), as described in Section 46.1

The pg_cursors view displays cursors created by any of these means. Cursors only exist for the duration of the transaction that defines them, unless they have been declared WITH HOLD. Therefore non-holdable cursors are only present in the view until the end of their creating transaction.

Note

Cursors are used internally to implement some of the components of PostgreSQL, such as procedural languages. Therefore, the pg_cursors view might include cursors that have not been explicitly created by the user.

Table 51.69. pg_cursors Columns

Column Type Description
`name` `text` The name of the cursor
`statement` `text` The verbatim query string submitted to declare this cursor
`is_holdable` `bool` `true` if the cursor is holdable (that is, it can be accessed after the transaction that declared the cursor has committed); `false` otherwise
`is_binary` `bool` `true` if the cursor was declared `BINARY`; `false` otherwise
`is_scrollable` `bool` `true` if the cursor is scrollable (that is, it allows rows to be retrieved in a nonsequential manner); `false` otherwise
`creation_time` `timestamptz` The time at which the cursor was declared

Column Type

Description

name text

The name of the cursor

statement text

The verbatim query string submitted to declare this cursor

is_holdable bool

true if the cursor is holdable (that is, it can be accessed after the transaction that declared the cursor has committed); false otherwise

is_binary bool

true if the cursor was declared BINARY; false otherwise

is_scrollable bool

true if the cursor is scrollable (that is, it allows rows to be retrieved in a nonsequential manner); false otherwise

creation_time timestamptz

The time at which the cursor was declared

The pg_cursors view is read only.