Explanation of Cursor and Cursor Variable in PL/SQL

In PL/SQL, a cursor is a pointer that allows the traversal of the result set of a query. On the other hand, a cursor variable is a reference to a cursor that can be dynamic and reassignable.

Knowing the difference between a cursor and a cursor variable is important in PL/SQL programming. A cursor is used when you need to fetch data from a specific query result set and process it row by row. It is static and tied to a specific query. On the other hand, a cursor variable is more flexible and can point to different queries at runtime, allowing for dynamic SQL operations.

When working on programming projects, you would typically use a cursor when you have a predefined query result set that needs to be processed sequentially. Cursor variables are handy when you need to work with different result sets dynamically, especially in scenarios where the query is not known until runtime.