13.6.3 DECLARE Syntax

The DECLARE statement is used to defined various items local to program:

• Local variables. See Section 13.6.4, "Variables in Stored Programs".
• Conditions and handlers. See Section 13.6.7, "Condition Handling".
• Cursors. See Section 13.6.6, "Cursors".

DECLARE is permitted only inside a BEGIN ... END compound statement and must be at its start, before any other statements.

Declarations must follow a certain order. Cursor declarations must appear before handler declarations.Variable and condition declarations must appear before cursor or handler declarations.