Can we create a cursor that can hold records of any table

Question

DECLARE
     CURSOR cr_tablenames IS
          SELECT tname
          FROM tab;
     v_tablename tab.tname%TYPE;
BEGIN
     OPEN cr_tablenames;
     LOOP
          FETCH cr_tablenames INTO v_tablename;
          EXIT WHEN cr_tablenames%NOTFOUND;
          DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Table: '||v_tablename);
          -- HERE, I WANT TO PERFORM SELECT * OPERATION ON
          -- EACH TABLE WHOSE NAME COMES INTO v_tablename
          -- AND DISPLAY THE RECORDS
     END LOOP;
END;
I want to perform SELECT * operation on each table whose name comes into the variable and display the records. How to achieve it? I am clueless.
Can this be achieved by something like... using cursors which can be defined dynamically and which can hold records of any table?
Or, do I need to have some different approach to this problem?
Edited by: kartins on Nov 5, 2009 11:41 PM

Answer 1

something like
SQL> create or replace
  2  function getContent (p_tn in varchar2)
  3     return sys_refcursor
  4  is
  5     retval sys_refcursor;
  6  begin
  7     open retval for
  8       'select * from '||p_tn;
  9     return retval;
10  end;
11  /
Function created.
SQL>
SQL> var rc refcursor
SQL>
SQL> begin
  2     :rc := getContent ('emp');
  3  end;
  4  /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL>
SQL> print rc
     EMPNO ENAME      JOB              MGR HIREDATE         SAL       COMM     DEPTNO
      7369 SMITH      CLERK           7902 17-DEC-80        900                    20
      7499 ALLEN      SALESMAN        7698 20-FEB-81       1700        300         30
      7521 WARD       SALESMAN        7698 22-FEB-81       1350        500         30
      7566 JONES      MANAGER         7839 02-APR-81       3075                    20
      7654 MARTIN     SALESMAN        7698 28-SEP-81       1350       1400         30
      7698 BLAKE      MANAGER         7839 01-MAY-81       2950                    30
      7782 CLARK      MANAGER         7934 09-JUN-81       2551                    10
      7788 SCOTT      ANALYST         7566 19-APR-87       3100                    20
      7839 KING       PRESIDENT            17-NOV-81       5100                    10
      7844 TURNER     SALESMAN        7698 08-SEP-81       1600          0         30
      7876 ADAMS      CLERK           7788 23-MAY-87       1200                    20
     EMPNO ENAME      JOB              MGR HIREDATE         SAL       COMM     DEPTNO
      7900 JAMES      CLERK           7698 03-DEC-81       1050                    30
      7902 FORD       ANALYST         7566 03-DEC-81       3100                    20
      7934 MILLER     CLERK           7782 23-JAN-82       1400                    10
14 rows selected.
SQL>
SQL> begin
  2     :rc := getContent ('dual');
  3  end;
  4  /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL>
SQL> print rc
D
X