ABAP DATA REFERRING Statement syntax, information and example SAP source code

DATA - TYPE, LIKE

Short Reference

ABAP Syntax_2 DATA var { {TYPE [LINE OF] type}
| {LIKE [LINE OF] dobj} }
[VALUE val|{IS INITIAL}]
[READ-ONLY] .

What does it do? When a type data type or a dobj data object is specified, the data type of variable var is already fully defined before the declaration. The syntax and meaning of the additions TYPE and LIKE are exactly the same as the definition of the data types with TYPES , except that:

For DATA , a standard table type with

generic primary table key can be specified after TYPE . This creates a bound table type with a standard key .

For DATA , a table type can be specified after TYPE that is generic with respect to its

secondary table key (thanks to the addition
WITH FURTHER SECONDARY KEYS ). This type attribute is not relevant for the declared data object.
If neither TYPE nor LIKE is specified, a data object with the bound data type c of length 1 is created.

Latest notes: For internal tables, the declaration of the primary table key as a standard key can be critical for various reasons. We recommend that you define the key fields explicitly instead. In the statement above, therefore, check whether a table with standard key is created by mistake if using a generic standard table type.
Example ABAP Coding These statements define two data objects, both of which have the same data type as the database table spfli .
DATA: spfli_wa1 TYPE spfli,
spfli_wa2 LIKE spfli_wa1.