Explain cursor FOR loops in PL/SQL

How it works

A cursor FOR loop implicitly opens the cursor, fetches into an implicitly declared record each iteration, and closes the cursor automatically once the loop ends (including on an early EXIT) — no explicit OPEN/FETCH/CLOSE and no %NOTFOUND check needed. That's why it's the preferred, less error-prone style for a straightforward row-by-row pass over a query.

BEGIN
  FOR r_employee IN (
    SELECT employee_id, last_name, salary FROM employees WHERE department_id = 90
  ) LOOP
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(r_employee.last_name || ': ' || r_employee.salary);
  END LOOP;
END;
/

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