# Prepared Statements

Prepared statements can be used to improve the performance of frequently executed queries. Preparing the query caches it on the ScyllaDB/Cassandra cluster and only needs to be performed once. Once created, prepared statements should be reused with different bind variables. Prepared queries use the `?` marker to denote bind variables in the query string. You can also specify bind variables as `:name`.

```c
void prepare_statement(CassSession* session) {
  /* Prepare the statement on the ScyllaDB/Cassandra cluster */
  CassFuture* prepare_future
    = cass_session_prepare(session, "INSERT INTO example (key, value) VALUES (?, ?)");

  /* Wait for the statement to prepare and get the result */
  CassError rc = cass_future_error_code(prepare_future);

  printf("Prepare result: %s\n", cass_error_desc(rc));

  if (rc != CASS_OK) {
    /* Handle error */
    cass_future_free(prepare_future);
    return;
  }

  /* Get the prepared object from the future */
  const CassPrepared* prepared = cass_future_get_prepared(prepare_future);

  /* The future can be freed immediately after getting the prepared object */
  cass_future_free(prepare_future);

  /* The prepared object can now be used to create statements that can be executed */
  CassStatement* statement = cass_prepared_bind(prepared);

  /* Bind variables by name this time (this can only be done with prepared statements)*/
  cass_statement_bind_string_by_name(statement, "key", "abc");
  cass_statement_bind_int32_by_name(statement, "value", 123);

  /* Execute statement - same as the non-prepared code.
     Here we'll discard the result. */
  CassFuture* execute_future = cass_session_execute(session, statement);
  cass_future_wait(execute_future);
  cass_future_free(execute_future);

  /* The prepared object must be freed */
  cass_prepared_free(prepared);
}
```