What is the term for a database structure that processes results one row at a time?

A cursor is a database structure designed to manipulate and retrieve data one row at a time. It acts as a pointer that allows developers to interact with the result set generated by a database query. Cursors are particularly useful in scenarios where you need to perform operations on each record individually, such as in loops where specific data manipulations must occur for each row fetched from the database.

When a cursor is used, it establishes a context for processing each row of data, making it possible to fetch rows sequentially and perform actions like updates or calculations dynamically. This focus on row-by-row processing provides more granular control, especially in complex transactions where operations depend on the results of previous rows.

While iterators and streams are also terms related to managing collections of data, they are broader concepts often used in programming languages rather than being specific to database operations. A loader generally refers to tools or processes for importing data into a database rather than handling individual rows of a result set.