Each SQL statement in a host program starts with ‘SQL’, an SQL prefix identifier, an SQL statement, and an SQL terminator. The specific values of the prefix and terminator depend on the host language and are given later under the specifications of each host language.When the host language is compiled, a precompiler extracts the SQL statement and builds subroutine calls for the SQL execution within the compiled host program. The host program has variables defined in the “SQL DECLARE SECTION”. These host variables are identified within the SQL statement by immediately preceding the host variable name with a colon (:).

You will see examples of cursor control in the following topics.