Semi-OT: GETNEXT methodology in SQL?

[Fairlight]

Okay, mark your calendars, because I'm going to actually be complimentary
to filePro.

fP makes "stepping through" your records dead simple, whether they contain
unique data fields or not.  GETNEXT is a bit of a Godsend.

Unfortunately, I need to emulate this behaviour in mysql, and I'm coming
up blank.  Anyone have experience with both and know the methodology for
emulating a GETNEXT loop in mysql?  I need a data worm that can work on
a record-by-record basis on a table that was designed poorly with no
guaranteed unique values in place--in EVERY SINGLE TABLE.  So I need a
general methodology for emulating this, not one based on one table schema.

I've already got a feeler out in a more SQL-oriented community.  However,
the methodology I need to use is so fP-centric that I figured it made sense
to ask here, as anyone here that's ever done a LOOKUP/GETNEXT loop should
know exactly what it is I'm wanting to do.  So it made sense to ask here as
well.

Thanks in advance to anyone that knows both sides of the road and can help.

mark->
-- 
"I'm not subtle. I'm not pretty, and I'll piss off a lot of people along
the way. But I'll get the job done" --Captain Matthew Gideon, "Crusade"