.\" This is -*-nroff-*-.\" XXX standard disclaimer belongs here.....\" $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/src/man/Attic/declare.l,v 1.1 1997/09/08 17:49:41 momjian Exp $.TH FETCH SQL 01/23/93 PostgreSQL PostgreSQL.SH NAMEdeclere \(em declare a cursor.SH SYNOPSIS.nf\fBdeclare\fR [ \fBbinary\fR ] \fBcursor for\fR select statement.fi.SH DESCRIPTION.BR Declareallows a user to create cursors.Cursors are only available in transactions..PPNormal cursors return data back in ASCII format. Since data is storednatively in binary format, the system must do a conversion to producethe ASCII format. In addition, ASCII formats are often larger in sizethan binary format. Once the attributes come back in ASCII, often theclient application then has to convert it to a binary format tomanipulate it anyway..PP\fBBinary\fR cursors give you back the data in the native binaryrepresentation. Thus, binary cursors will tend to be a little fastersince there's less overhead of conversion..PPHowever, ASCII is architectural neutral whereas binary representationcan differ between different machine architecture. Thus, if your clientmachine uses a different representation than you server machine, gettingback attributes in binary format is probably not what you want. Also, ifyour main purpose is displaying the data in ASCII, then getting it backin ASCII will save you some effort on the client side..PPFor an example, see the fetch(l) manual page..SH "SEE ALSO"fetch(l),begin(l),end(l),select(l).