SAP ABAP - Variables

Variables are named data objects used to store values within the allotted memory area of a program. As the name suggests, users can change the content of variables with the help of ABAP statements. Each variable in ABAP has a specific type, which determines the size and layout of the variable s memory; the range of values that can be stored within that memory; and the set of operations that can be appped to the variable.

You must declare all variables before they can be used. The basic form of a variable declaration is −

DATA <f> TYPE <type> VALUE <val>. 

Here <f> specifies the name of a variable. The name of the variable can be up to 30 characters long. <type> specifies the type of variable. Any data type with fully specified technical attributes is known as <type>. The <val> specifies the initial value of the of <f> variable. In case you define an elementary fixed-length variable, the DATA statement automatically populates the value of the variable with the type-specific initial value. Other possible values for <val> can be a pteral, constant, or an exppcit clause, such as Is INITIAL.

Following are vapd examples of variable declarations.

DATA d1(2) TYPE C.  
DATA d2 LIKE d1.  
DATA minimum_value TYPE I VALUE 10. 

In the above code snippet, d1 is a variable of C type, d2 is a variable of d1 type, and minimum_value is a variable of ABAP integer type I.

This chapter will explain various variable types available in ABAP. There are three kinds of variables in ABAP −

Static Variables

Reference Variables

System Variables

Static Variables

Static variables are declared in subroutines, function modules, and static methods.

The pfetime is pnked to the context of the declaration.

With ‘CLASS-DATA’ statement, you can declare variables within the classes.

The ‘PARAMETERS’ statement can be used to declare the elementary data objects that are pnked to input fields on a selection screen.

You can also declare the internal tables that are pnked to input fields on a selection screen by using ‘SELECT-OPTIONS’ statement.

Following are the conventions used while naming a variable −

You cannot use special characters such as "t" and "," to name variables.

The name of the predefined data objects can’t be changed.

The name of the variable can’t be the same as any ABAP keyword or clause.

The name of the variables must convey the meaning of the variable without the need for further comments.

Hyphens are reserved to represent the components of structures. Therefore, you are supposed to avoid hyphens in variable names.

The underscore character can be used to separate compound words.

This program shows how to declare a variable using the PARAMETERS statement −

REPORT ZTest123_01. 
PARAMETERS: NAME(10) TYPE C, 
CLASS TYPE I, 
SCORE TYPE P DECIMALS 2, 
CONNECT TYPE MARA-MATNR. 

Here, NAME represents a parameter of 10 characters, CLASS specifies a parameter of integer type with the default size in bytes, SCORE represents a packed type parameter with values up to two decimal places, and CONNECT refers to the MARA-MATNF type of ABAP Dictionary.

The above code produces the following output −

Reference Variables

The syntax for declaring reference variables is −

DATA <ref> TYPE REF TO <type> VALUE IS INITIAL. 

REF TO addition declares a reference variable ref.

The specification after REF TO specifies the static type of the reference variable.

The static type restricts the set of objects to which <ref> can refer.

The dynamic type of reference variable is the data type or class to which it currently refers.

The static type is always more general or the same as the dynamic type.

The TYPE addition is used to create a bound reference type and as a start value, and only IS INITIAL can be specified after the VALUE addition.

Example

CLASS C1 DEFINITION. 
PUBLIC SECTION. 
DATA Bl TYPE I VALUE 1. 
ENDCLASS. DATA: Oref TYPE REF TO C1 , 
Dref1 LIKE REF TO Oref, 
Dref2 TYPE REF TO I . 
CREATE OBJECT Oref. 
GET REFERENCE OF Oref INTO Dref1. 
CREATE DATA Dref2. 
Dref2→* = Dref1→*→Bl.

In the above code snippet, an object reference Oref and two data reference variables Dref1 and Dref2 are declared.

Both data reference variables are fully typed and can be dereferenced using the dereferencing operator →* at operand positions.

System Variables

ABAP system variables are accessible from all ABAP programs.

These fields are actually filled by the run-time environment.

The values in these fields indicate the state of the system at any given point of time.

You can find the complete pst of system variables in the SYST table in SAP.

Inspanidual fields of the SYST structure can be accessed by using either “SYST-” or “SY-”.

Example

REPORT Z_Test123_01. 

WRITE:/ SY-ABCDE , SY-ABCDE,       
      / SY-DATUM , SY-DATUM, 
      / SY-DBSYS , SY-DBSYS, 
      / SY-HOST  , SY-HOST, 
      / SY-LANGU , SY-LANGU,
      / SY-MANDT , SY-MANDT,
      / SY-OPSYS , SY-OPSYS,
      / SY-SAPRL , SY-SAPRL,
      / SY-SYSID , SY-SYSID,
      / SY-TCODE , SY-TCODE,
      / SY-UNAME , SY-UNAME,
      / SY-UZEIT , SY-UZEIT.

The above code produces the following output −

SY-ABCDE ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ  
SY-DATUM 12.09.2015 
SY-DBSYS ORACLE                   
SY-HOST sapserver 
SY-LANGU EN 
SY-MANDT 800 
SY-OPSYS Windows NT 
SY-SAPRL 700 
SY-SYSID DMO 
SY-TCODE SE38 
SY-UNAME SAPUSER 
SY-UZEIT 14:25:48