SPI_PREPARE_CURSOR(3)

hii bestie, you're looking at SPI_PREPARE_CURSOR(3) from the PostgreSQL 13.23 docs, and tbh it's lowkey a glow-up for prepared statements 💅✨

🎀 NAME 🎀

SPI_prepare_cursor — prepare a statement, without executing it yet 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

SPIPlanPtr SPI_prepare_cursor(const char * command, int nargs,
                              Oid * argtypes, int cursorOptions)

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so SPI_prepare_cursor is literally identical to SPI_prepare, except it also lets you specify the planner's cursor options parameter. icon behavior fr fr.

That parameter is a bit mask, and its values are shown in nodes/parsenodes.h for the options field of DeclareCursorStmt. Meanwhile, plain old SPI_prepare always takes the cursor options as zero — no extra flair there, bestie.

💖 ARGUMENTS 💖

• const char * command — the command string, aka the actual SQL vibe you're preparing 💫
• int nargs — number of input parameters ($1, $2, etc.) 🎀
• Oid * argtypes — pointer to an array containing the OIDs of the data types of the parameters 👑
• int cursorOptions — integer bit mask of cursor options; zero produces default behavior 🌈

🦋 RETURN VALUE 🦋

SPI_prepare_cursor has the same return conventions as SPI_prepare. no cap, it keeps that same energy.

🔥 NOTES 🔥

Useful bits to set in cursorOptions include:

• CURSOR_OPT_SCROLL
• CURSOR_OPT_NO_SCROLL
• CURSOR_OPT_FAST_PLAN
• CURSOR_OPT_GENERIC_PLAN
• CURSOR_OPT_CUSTOM_PLAN

bestie, note in particular that CURSOR_OPT_HOLD is ignored 💀 like it did not make the cut.

big kiss from the PostgreSQL 13.23 docs, dated 2025 — mwah 💋💖