Defining REF CURSOR Types

To make cursor variables, you take 2 steps. At first, you define a REF CURSOR type, and then declare the cursor variables of that type. You can define the REF CURSOR types in any PL/SQL subprogram, block, or package using the syntax as shown:

TYPE ref_type_name IS REF CURSOR RETURN return_type;

Where ref_type_name is a type specifier used in the subsequent declarations of the cursor variables and return_type should present a record or a row in a database table. In the illustration below, you specify a return type that presents a row in the database table dept:

DECLARE

TYPE DeptCurTyp IS REF CURSOR RETURN dept%ROWTYPE;

REF CURSOR types can be weak (nonrestrictive) or strong (restrictive).