Difference Between Cursor and While

Question

Dear Friends , Any one can tell me in detail that what is the Difference Between " Cursor" and "While" with Example.

Chintan Rathod · Answer

Hi Kunal, Cursor : A cursor is a set of rows together with a pointer that identifies a current row. In other word, Cursor is a database object used by applications to manipulate data in a set on a row-by-row basis, its like record-set in the ASP and visual basic. Example , DECLARE @AccountID INT DECLARE @getAccountID CURSOR SET @getAccountID = CURSOR FOR SELECT Account_ID FROM Accounts OPEN @getAccountID FETCH NEXT FROM @getAccountID INTO @AccountID WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0 BEGIN PRINT @AccountID FETCH NEXT FROM @getAccountID INTO @AccountID END CLOSE @getAccountID DEALLOCATE @getAccountID --------------------------------------- While : Sets a condition for the repeated execution of an SQL statement or statement block. The statements are executed repeatedly as long as the specified condition is true. The execution of statements in the WHILE loop can be controlled from inside the loop with the BREAK and CONTINUE keywords. Syntax : WHILE Boolean_expression { sql_statement | statement_block | BREAK | CONTINUE } Example : 1) Example of WHILE Loop DECLARE @intFlag INT SET @intFlag = 1 WHILE ( @intFlag 5 ) BEGIN PRINT @intFlag SET @intFlag = @intFlag + 1 END GO ResultSet: 1 2 3 4 5 2) Example of WHILE Loop with BREAK keyword DECLARE @intFlag INT SET @intFlag = 1 WHILE ( @intFlag 5 ) BEGIN PRINT @intFlag SET @intFlag = @intFlag + 1 IF @intFlag = 4 BREAK ; END GO ResultSet: 1 2 3 3) Example of WHILE Loop with CONTINUE and BREAK keywords DECLARE @intFlag INT SET @intFlag = 1 WHILE ( @intFlag 5 ) BEGIN PRINT @intFlag SET @intFlag = @intFlag + 1 CONTINUE ; IF @intFlag = 4 -- This will never executed BREAK ; END GO ResultSet: 1 2 3 4 5 Thanks & Regards ---------------- Chintan Rathod