ABAP SELECT OBSOLETE Statement syntax and functionality in SAP

SELECT - Short Form

Short Reference

ABAP Syntax(Obsolete) SELECT * FROM { dbtab | *dbtab } ... .

What does it do? This statement is a short form of the following Open SQL statement for accessing an individual database table dbtab :
SELECT * FROM dbtab INTO { dbtab | *dbtab } ...
The explicit specification of a work area is missing in the short form. A table work area dbtab or *dbtab is used implicitly as the work area. The table work area must be declared using TABLES . If the name *dbtab is used instead of the name of the database table dbtab , dbtab is accessed, but the additional table work area is used.
The short form can only be used to read all columns of a database table if * is specified. When individual columns or aggregate functions are read, the work area must always be specified explicitly. The only exception here is when
count( * ) is used to specify "nothing", if no alternative column name and no GROUP BY have been specified.
Latest notes: The short form is not allowed in classes. Instead, use an explicit work area.

ABAP SELECT OBSOLETE Statement syntax, information and example SAP source code