Informix Error -4371: Cursors must be uniquely declared within one program module.

Reasons / Common Causes

-4371 fires when the same cursor name is used in more than one DECLARE cname CURSOR statement within one source file — per the official guidance, this holds even when the DECLARE appears inside a function: unlike a DEFINEd program variable (which is local to its function), a cursor is global to the whole module.

1. The same cursor name declared in more than one DECLARE ... CURSOR statement in the module, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause; cursor names aren't scoped per-function the way variables are.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Rename one of the two cursors so each name is used in only one DECLARE statement within the module.

Examples

Two functions declaring the same cursor name

FUNCTION listOrders()
  DECLARE cur CURSOR FOR SELECT * FROM orders;
END FUNCTION

FUNCTION listCustomers()
  DECLARE cur CURSOR FOR SELECT * FROM customer;
  -- -4371: "cur" is already declared above, even though these are
  -- different functions
END FUNCTION

Corrected

FUNCTION listCustomers()
  DECLARE cust_cur CURSOR FOR SELECT * FROM customer;
END FUNCTION

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check every DECLARE ... CURSOR statement across the whole module, including inside different functions, and rename any cursor name used more than once.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -4372 — "The cursor cursor-name has not yet been declared in this program module. It must be declared before it can be used." A related cursor-declaration error, about a missing declaration rather than a duplicate one.

The same cursor name is declared more than once in the module (cursors are module-global, not function-local) — rename one of them.