STORED PROCEDURE/REF CURSOR: How to output entire buffer

Question

I wrote a Stored Procedure wherein I use a Cursor to extract multiple
rows and columns. I then write them into the buffer
(dmbs_output.put_line). But when I try to capture the entire result
into an OUT variable, I only get the last buffered line.
So how do I output the entire buffer- all rows and columns? In other words (maybe), how do I use dbms_output.get_lines() to assign value to an OUT variable?
Alternatively, using REF CURSOR as OUT variable, I added the following to "CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE ... ()":
cursor_out_test OUT cursor_test
But when I tried:
DEFINE CURSOR TYPE cursor_test IS REF CURSOR RETURN table%ROWTYPE;
...or...
DECLARE TYPE cursor_test IS REF CURSOR RETURN table%ROWTYPE;
I still got syntax errors.
In one line, what I am trying to do is break the result array at the database level rather than at the application level.
Cheers, Bill
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/appdev.102/b14261/sqloperations.htm#LNPLS00605

Answer 1

I did the following:
OPEN CURSOR x
     LOOP
          FETCH CURSOR x INTO col1, col2
          (EXIT WHEN...)
          variable_line := col1 || col2
     END LOOP
CLOSE CURSOR
But after closing this cursor, variable_line contains only the last buffered line. I want all the looped lines (without using associative arrays, nested tables etc). So I guess I am just looking for some way to append data lines- adding chr(10) doesn't work either.
Cheers, Bill