MySQL 5.7 Release Notes
DECLARE cursor_name CURSOR FOR select_statement
This statement declares a cursor and associates it with a
SELECT statement that retrieves
the rows to be traversed by the cursor. To fetch the rows later,
use a FETCH statement. The number
of columns retrieved by the
SELECT statement must match the
number of output variables specified in the
FETCH statement.
The SELECT statement cannot have
an INTO clause.
Cursor declarations must appear before handler declarations and after variable and condition declarations.
A stored program may contain multiple cursor declarations, but each cursor declared in a given block must have a unique name. For an example, see Section 13.6.6, “Cursors”.
For information available through
SHOW statements, it is possible
in many cases to obtain equivalent information by using a cursor
with an INFORMATION_SCHEMA table.