can be inserted into the dynamic command via
          <literal>format()</literal> and <literal>USING</literal>.
          The <literal>SCROLL</literal> and
          <literal>NO SCROLL</literal> options have the same meanings as for a bound
          cursor.
         </para>

       <para>
        An example:
<programlisting>
OPEN curs1 FOR EXECUTE format('SELECT * FROM %I WHERE col1 = $1',tabname) USING keyvalue;
</programlisting>
        In this example, the table name is inserted into the query via
        <function>format()</function>.  The comparison value for <literal>col1</literal>
        is inserted via a <literal>USING</literal> parameter, so it needs
        no quoting.
       </para>
     </sect3>

    <sect3 id="plpgsql-open-bound-cursor">
     <title>Opening a Bound Cursor</title>

<synopsis>
OPEN <replaceable>bound_cursorvar</replaceable> <optional> ( <optional> <replaceable>argument_name</replaceable> { := | =&gt; } </optional> <replaceable>argument_value</replaceable> <optional>, ...</optional> ) </optional>;
</synopsis>

         <para>
          This form of <command>OPEN</command> is used to open a cursor
          variable whose query was bound to it when it was declared.  The
          cursor cannot be open already.  A list of actual argument value
          expressions must appear if and only if the cursor was declared to
          take arguments.  These values will be substituted in the query.
         </para>

         <para>
          The query plan for a bound cursor is always considered cacheable;
          there is no equivalent of <command>EXECUTE</command> in this case.
          Notice that <literal>SCROLL</literal> and <literal>NO SCROLL</literal> cannot be
          specified in <command>OPEN</command>, as the cursor's scrolling
          behavior was already determined.
         </para>

         <para>
          Argument values can be passed using either <firstterm>positional</firstterm>
          or <firstterm>named</firstterm> notation.  In positional
          notation, all arguments are specified in order.  In named notation,
          each argument's name is specified using <literal>:=</literal>
          or <literal>=&gt;</literal> to
          separate it from the argument expression. Similar to calling
          functions, described in <xref linkend="sql-syntax-calling-funcs"/>, it
          is also allowed to mix positional and named notation.
         </para>

         <para>
          Examples (these use the cursor declaration examples above):
<programlisting>
OPEN curs2;
OPEN curs3(42);
OPEN curs3(key := 42);
OPEN curs3(key =&gt; 42);
</programlisting>
         </para>

         <para>
          Because variable substitution is done on a bound cursor's query,
          there are really two ways to pass values into the cursor: either
          with an explicit argument to <command>OPEN</command>, or implicitly by
          referencing a <application>PL/pgSQL</application> variable in the query.
          However, only variables declared before the bound cursor was
          declared will be substituted into it.  In either case the value to
          be passed is determined at the time of the <command>OPEN</command>.
          For example, another way to get the same effect as the
          <literal>curs3</literal> example above is
<programlisting>
DECLARE
    key integer;
    curs4 CURSOR FOR SELECT * FROM tenk1 WHERE unique1 = key;
BEGIN
    key := 42;
    OPEN curs4;
</programlisting>
         </para>
     </sect3>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="plpgsql-cursor-using">
    <title>Using Cursors</title>

    <para>
     Once a cursor has been opened, it can be manipulated with the
     statements described here.
    </para>

    <para>
     These manipulations need not occur in the same function that
     opened the cursor to begin with.  You can return a <type>refcursor</type>
     value out of a function and let the caller operate on the cursor.
     (Internally, a <type>refcursor</type>