How to check if cursor exists (open status)

How do I check if a cursor is open or not? Because many times I am encountering the error 'Cursor already exists'. Please let me know how can I check whether a cursor is already in open status.

In fact I have closed as well as Deallocated it at the end (CLOSE ppm_cursor; DEALLOCATE ppm_cursor;) But Still i am getting the same error what could be the reason.

You can use the CURSOR_STATUS function to determine its state.

IF CURSOR_STATUS('global','myCursor')>=-1
BEGIN
 DEALLOCATE myCursor
END

Close the cursor, if it is empty then deallocate it:

IF CURSOR_STATUS('global','myCursor') >= -1
 BEGIN
  IF CURSOR_STATUS('global','myCursor') > -1
   BEGIN
    CLOSE myCursor
   END
 DEALLOCATE myCursor
END

Just Small change to what Gary W mentioned, adding 'SELECT':

IF (SELECT CURSOR_STATUS('global','myCursor')) >= -1
BEGIN
 DEALLOCATE myCursor
END

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sqlgetstarted/thread/eb268010-75fd-4c04-9fe8-0bc33ccf9357