PostgreSQL 8.4.17 Documentation
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# 44.45. `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 45.2.3

- via the Server Programming Interface (SPI), as described in Section 42.1

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 44-46. `pg_cursors` Columns

Name | Type | Description
--- | --- | ---
`name` | `text` | The name of the cursor
`statement` | `text` | The verbatim query string submitted to declare this cursor
`is_holdable` | `boolean` | `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` | `boolean` | `true` if the cursor was declared `BINARY`; `false` otherwise
`is_scrollable` | `boolean` | `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.

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