ABAP SET LANGUAGE Statement syntax and functionality in SAP

SET LANGUAGE

Short Reference

ABAP Syntax_6 SET LANGUAGE lang.

What does it do? This statement loads the list headers and text symbols from the text pool in the language specified in
lang . lang must be a character-like data object that contains a language key with the length 1. The possible language keys are contained in the SPRAS column of the database table T002 . The loaded text elements are only valid for the current program and not for the programs called within it. If lang
contains a space, the behavior is undefined.
If there is no text pool for the specified language, the system loads the text pool in the secondary language which is specified in the profile parameter zcsa/second_language . If a secondary language is not set, no new text pool is loaded and
sy-subrc is set to 4. In this case, the program continues to use the text elements of the previous text pool.
If list headers and text symbols are missing in a text pool loaded using SET LANGUAGE but existed in the previously loaded text pool, these are initialized.

System Fields
sy-subrc Meaning
0The text pool of the specified language or secondary language was loaded.
4Neither the text pool of the specified language nor the secondary language could be loaded.

Latest notes: When calling a program, the system loads the text pool in the logon language by default. If this text pool does not exist, the system loads the text pool in the secondary language. If this text pool also does not exist, all text elements remain initialized.

The SET LANGUAGE statement does not load the selection texts of the language specified. If this is necessary, the statement
READ TEXTPOOL can be used. The selection texts read in can then be displayed on the selection screen using the function modules SELECTION_TEXTS_MODIFY and SELECTION_TEXTS_DTEL .

Do not confuse the statement SET LANGUAGE with the statement SET LOCALE LANGUAGE , used for setting the text environment . In particular, it does not have a corresponding GET LANGUAGE statement.
Example ABAP Coding Displays the text symbol text-010 in different languages. Output is produced for all languages for which the text pool exists in the specified language, or in the secondary language.
DATA langu LIKE sy-langu.

SELECT spras FROM t002
INTO langu.
SET LANGUAGE langu.
IF sy-subrc = 0.
cl_demo_output=>write( |{ langu } { text-010 }| ).
ENDIF.
ENDSELECT.
cl_demo_output=>display( ).

ABAP SET LANGUAGE Statement syntax, information and example SAP source code