1. < hardware > A visually distinct mark on a display indicating where newly typed text will be inserted. The cursor moves as text is typed and, in most modern editors, can be moved around within a document by the user to change the insertion point.
2. In SQL , a named control structure used by an application program to point to a row of data. The position of the row is within a table or view , and the cursor is used interactively so select rows from columns.
(1996-12-27)