Informix Error -598: Bad cursor name cursor-name.

Reasons / Common Causes

-598 fires when an SPL routine's UPDATE/DELETE ... WHERE CURRENT OF cursor-name names a cursor that doesn't exist within the routine — per the official guidance, the most common form of this is a FOREACH loop's implicit cursor referenced under the wrong name.

1. A misspelled cursor name in WHERE CURRENT OF, per the official guidance's example — referencing a name like bad_cur_name that was never actually declared or named by the enclosing FOREACH.
2. A FOREACH loop that doesn't explicitly name its cursor, where the routine then tries to reference it by an assumed name in a positioned UPDATE/DELETE, when no such named cursor exists.
3. A positioned UPDATE/DELETE placed outside the FOREACH loop whose cursor it's trying to reference, so the cursor name simply isn't in scope at that point.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Name the FOREACH loop's cursor explicitly, and reference that exact name in the positioned UPDATE/DELETE:

   FOREACH cur1 FOR SELECT order_id, status INTO v_id, v_status FROM orders
     IF v_status = 'stale' THEN
       UPDATE orders SET status = 'cancelled' WHERE CURRENT OF cur1;
     END IF
   END FOREACH;
   

2. Review the spelling of the cursor name against the name given in the FOREACH clause.
3. Confirm the positioned UPDATE/DELETE sits inside the loop whose cursor it references, since the cursor name is only in scope there.

Examples

The disallowed reference

FOREACH cur1 FOR SELECT order_id, status INTO v_id, v_status FROM orders
  IF v_status = 'stale' THEN
    UPDATE orders SET status = 'cancelled' WHERE CURRENT OF bad_cur_name;
    -- -598: bad_cur_name doesn't exist; the loop's cursor is named cur1
  END IF
END FOREACH;

Corrected

FOREACH cur1 FOR SELECT order_id, status INTO v_id, v_status FROM orders
  IF v_status = 'stale' THEN
    UPDATE orders SET status = 'cancelled' WHERE CURRENT OF cur1;
  END IF
END FOREACH;

Diagnostic Checks

1. Confirm the FOREACH clause names its cursor explicitly, and that every positioned UPDATE/DELETE inside it uses that exact name.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -507 — "Cursor cursor-name not found." The same underlying condition (a positioned UPDATE/DELETE referencing a cursor that isn't open under that name), in ordinary embedded SQL rather than specifically within an SPL routine's FOREACH.

Almost always a FOREACH cursor referenced under the wrong name — name the loop's cursor explicitly and match it exactly in the positioned UPDATE/DELETE.