# phpman > man > FETCH(7) [FETCH(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/FETCH/7/markdown) PostgreSQL 14.23 Documentation [FETCH(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/FETCH/7/markdown) ## NAME FETCH - retrieve rows from a query using a cursor ## SYNOPSIS FETCH [ _direction_ ] [ FROM | IN ] _cursor_name_ where _direction_ can be one of: NEXT PRIOR FIRST LAST ABSOLUTE _count_ RELATIVE _count_ _count_ ALL FORWARD FORWARD _count_ FORWARD ALL BACKWARD BACKWARD _count_ BACKWARD ALL ## DESCRIPTION **FETCH** retrieves rows using a previously-created cursor. A cursor has an associated position, which is used by **FETCH**. The cursor position can be before the first row of the query result, on any particular row of the result, or after the last row of the result. When created, a cursor is positioned before the first row. After fetching some rows, the cursor is positioned on the row most recently retrieved. If **FETCH** runs off the end of the available rows then the cursor is left positioned after the last row, or before the first row if fetching backward. **FETCH** **ALL** or **FETCH** **BACKWARD** **ALL** will always leave the cursor positioned after the last row or before the first row. The forms NEXT, PRIOR, FIRST, LAST, ABSOLUTE, RELATIVE fetch a single row after moving the cursor appropriately. If there is no such row, an empty result is returned, and the cursor is left positioned before the first row or after the last row as appropriate. The forms using FORWARD and BACKWARD retrieve the indicated number of rows moving in the forward or backward direction, leaving the cursor positioned on the last-returned row (or after/before all rows, if the _count_ exceeds the number of rows available). RELATIVE 0, FORWARD 0, and BACKWARD 0 all request fetching the current row without moving the cursor, that is, re-fetching the most recently fetched row. This will succeed unless the cursor is positioned before the first row or after the last row; in which case, no row is returned. **Note** This page describes usage of cursors at the SQL command level. If you are trying to use cursors inside a PL/pgSQL function, the rules are different — see Section 43.7.3. ## PARAMETERS _direction_ _direction_ defines the fetch direction and number of rows to fetch. It can be one of the following: NEXT Fetch the next row. This is the default if _direction_ is omitted. PRIOR Fetch the prior row. FIRST Fetch the first row of the query (same as ABSOLUTE 1). LAST Fetch the last row of the query (same as ABSOLUTE -1). ABSOLUTE _count_ Fetch the _count_'th row of the query, or the abs(_count_)'th row from the end if _count_ is negative. Position before first row or after last row if _count_ is out of range; in particular, ABSOLUTE 0 positions before the first row. RELATIVE _count_ Fetch the _count_'th succeeding row, or the abs(_count_)'th prior row if _count_ is negative. RELATIVE 0 re-fetches the current row, if any. _count_ Fetch the next _count_ rows (same as FORWARD _count_). ALL Fetch all remaining rows (same as FORWARD ALL). FORWARD Fetch the next row (same as NEXT). FORWARD _count_ Fetch the next _count_ rows. FORWARD 0 re-fetches the current row. FORWARD ALL Fetch all remaining rows. BACKWARD Fetch the prior row (same as PRIOR). BACKWARD _count_ Fetch the prior _count_ rows (scanning backwards). BACKWARD 0 re-fetches the current row. BACKWARD ALL Fetch all prior rows (scanning backwards). _count_ _count_ is a possibly-signed integer constant, determining the location or number of rows to fetch. For FORWARD and BACKWARD cases, specifying a negative _count_ is equivalent to changing the sense of FORWARD and BACKWARD. _cursor_name_ An open cursor's name. ## OUTPUTS On successful completion, a **FETCH** command returns a command tag of the form FETCH _count_ The _count_ is the number of rows fetched (possibly zero). Note that in psql, the command tag will not actually be displayed, since psql displays the fetched rows instead. ## NOTES The cursor should be declared with the SCROLL option if one intends to use any variants of **FETCH** other than **FETCH** **NEXT** or **FETCH** **FORWARD** with a positive count. For simple queries PostgreSQL will allow backwards fetch from cursors not declared with SCROLL, but this behavior is best not relied on. If the cursor is declared with NO SCROLL, no backward fetches are allowed. ABSOLUTE fetches are not any faster than navigating to the desired row with a relative move: the underlying implementation must traverse all the intermediate rows anyway. Negative absolute fetches are even worse: the query must be read to the end to find the last row, and then traversed backward from there. However, rewinding to the start of the query (as with FETCH ABSOLUTE 0) is fast. **DECLARE** is used to define a cursor. Use **MOVE** to change cursor position without retrieving data. ## EXAMPLES The following example traverses a table using a cursor: BEGIN WORK; -- Set up a cursor: DECLARE liahona SCROLL CURSOR FOR SELECT * FROM films; -- Fetch the first 5 rows in the cursor liahona: FETCH FORWARD 5 FROM liahona; code | title | did | date_prod | kind | len -------+-------------------------+-----+------------+----------+------- BL101 | The Third Man | 101 | 1949-12-23 | Drama | 01:44 BL102 | The African Queen | 101 | 1951-08-11 | Romantic | 01:43 JL201 | Une Femme est une Femme | 102 | 1961-03-12 | Romantic | 01:25 P_301 | Vertigo | 103 | 1958-11-14 | Action | 02:08 P_302 | Becket | 103 | 1964-02-03 | Drama | 02:28 -- Fetch the previous row: FETCH PRIOR FROM liahona; code | title | did | date_prod | kind | len -------+---------+-----+------------+--------+------- P_301 | Vertigo | 103 | 1958-11-14 | Action | 02:08 -- Close the cursor and end the transaction: CLOSE liahona; COMMIT WORK; ## COMPATIBILITY The SQL standard defines **FETCH** for use in embedded SQL only. The variant of **FETCH** described here returns the data as if it were a **SELECT** result rather than placing it in host variables. Other than this point, **FETCH** is fully upward-compatible with the SQL standard. The **FETCH** forms involving FORWARD and BACKWARD, as well as the forms FETCH _count_ and FETCH ALL, in which FORWARD is implicit, are PostgreSQL extensions. The SQL standard allows only FROM preceding the cursor name; the option to use IN, or to leave them out altogether, is an extension. ## SEE ALSO [**CLOSE**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/CLOSE/7/markdown), [**DECLARE**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/DECLARE/7/markdown), [**MOVE**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/MOVE/7/markdown) PostgreSQL 14.23 2026 [FETCH(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/FETCH/7/markdown)