ABAP Language

ABAP stands for Advanced Business Application Programming. It is a programming language developed by
SAP.
ABAP language syntax

ABAP is not case sensitive.

Every statement begins with a keyword and ends with a period.( WRITE is the keyword to print on
screen )

WRITE 'Hello World!'.

Chained statements.If consecutive statements have identical part at the beginning, then ABAP allows
you to chain these statements into a single statement. First write the identical part once and then place a colon
(:). Then write the remaining parts of the individual statements separated by commas.Normal Statements:

WRITE 'Hello'.

WRITE 'ABAP'.
Chained Statement:

WRITE: 'Hello', 'ABAP'.

Comments.If you want to make the entire line as comment, then enter asterisk (*) at the beginning of
the line.

* This is a comment line

If you want to make a part of the line as comment, then enter double quote () before the comment.

WRITE 'COMMENT'.

"Start of comment

Login to SAP System

Double click on the SAP icon.

On the logon pad select the system you want to login to and press log on button.

Enter Client, User, password and press enter.

This is SAP easy access screen. All the tools required by ABAP developer is under the node Tools.

What is SAP transaction code?

SAP Transaction code is a short cut key attached to a screen. Instead of using SAP easy access menu we
can also navigate to a particular screen in SAP by entering the transaction code (T-code for short) in the
command field of the standard toolbar.

Some of the useful transaction codes for ABAP developers.

T CODE

DESCRIPTION

SE11

ABAP Data Dictionary

SE16

Data Browser

SE37

Function Builder

SE38

ABAP Editor

SE41

Menu Painter

SE51

Screen Painter

SE71

SAP Script Layout

SE80

ABAP Workbench

SE91

Message Maintenance

SE93

Maintain Transaction

First ABAP Program

Let us write a Hello SAP ABAP program.
Navigate to ABAP editor under Tools node in SAP easy access.

Double click on ABAP Editor to open the editor. ABAP editor can also be opened by entering t-code SE38 in the
command field.

This is the ABAP editors initial screen. Enter the name of the program you want to
the customer programs must begin with Y or Z.

create and press create. All

In the next popup screen(Program attributes) enter the title for your program, select Executable program as
type and press save.

Press Local Object to store the program in the temporary folder.

This is the screen where you can write the ABAP code.

Write the code. Press save, then syntax check( Ctrl + F2 ).

If there are any syntax errors, it will be displayed at the bottom of the screen as shown above. Correct the errors
and again check the syntax.

Successful syntax check message will be displayed in the status bar. Then activate( Ctrl + F3 ) the program.

In the following screen select your program and press continue. Then run(F8) the program.

The output will be displayed as shown above.

ABAP Data Types and Constants

Data Type describes the technical characteristics of a Variable of that type. Data type is just the blue print
of a variable.
Predefined ABAP Types
DATA TYPE

DESCRIPTION

DEFAULT LENGTH

DEFAULT VALUE

Character

Numeric

Date

00000000

Time

000000

Hexa Decimal

X0

Integer

Packed

Float

User

defined

data types

Use TYPES keyword to define the data types.

TYPES: name(10) TYPE c,
length

TYPE p DECIMALS 2,

counter

TYPE i,

id(5)

TYPE n.

Structured data types

Structured data type is grouping of several simple data types under one name.
Use the keywords BEGIN OF and END OF to create a structured data type.
TYPES: BEGIN OF student,
id(5)

TYPE n,

name(10)

TYPE c,

dob

TYPE d,

place(10) TYPE c,
END OF student.

Constants
Constants are used to store a value under a name. We must specify the value when we declare a constant and
the value cannot be changed later in the program.

Use CONSTANTS keyword to declare a constant.

CONSTANTS: pi

TYPE p DECIMALS 2 VALUE '3.14',

yes TYPE c VALUE 'X'.

ABAP Variables
ABAP Variables are instances of data types. Variables are created during program execution and destroyed
after program execution.
Use keyword DATA to declare a variable.
DATA: firstname(10) TYPE c,
index

TYPE i,

student_id(5) TYPE n.

While declaring a variable we can also refer to an existing variable instead of data type. For that
use LIKE instead of TYPE keyword while declaring a variable.
DATA: firstname(10) TYPE c,
lastname(10)

LIKE firstname. " Observe LIKE keyword

Structured Variable
Similar to structured data type, structured variable can be declared using BEGIN OFand END OF keywords.
DATA: BEGIN OF student,
id(5)

TYPE n,

name(10)

TYPE c,

dob

TYPE d,

place(10) TYPE c,
END OF student.

We can also declare a structured variable by referring to an existing structured data type.
TYPES: BEGIN OF address,
name(10)

TYPE c,

street(10) TYPE c,

place(10)

TYPE c,

pincode(6) type n,
phone(10)

type n,

END OF address.

Data: house_address

type address,

office_address like house_address.

Each individual field of the structured variable can be accessed using hyphen (-). For example, name field of the
house_address structure can be accessed using housing_address-name.
Character is the default data type.
DATA: true.

" By default it will take C as data type

ABAP System Variables

ABAP system variables is accessible from all ABAP programs. These fields are filled by the runtime
environment. The values in these fields indicate the state of the system at any given point of time.
The complete list of ABAP system variables is found in the SYST table in SAP. Individual fields of the SYST
structure can be accessed either using SYST- or SY-.
WRITE:/ 'ABAP System Variables'.
WRITE:/ 'Client : ', sy-mandt.
WRITE:/ 'User : ', sy-uname.
WRITE:/ 'Date : ', sy-datum.
WRITE:/ 'Time : ', sy-uzeit.

Output

Basic Operations
Assigning values to ABAP
Use = or MOVE keyword to assign a value to a variable.
DATA: a TYPE i,
b TYPE i,
c TYPE i,
d TYPE i.

a = 10.
b = a.
MOVE 20 TO c.
MOVE c TO d.

WRITE:/ a, b, c, d.

Output

Basic Arithmetic Operations

DATA: a TYPE i,
b TYPE i,
c TYPE i,
d TYPE i.

*Using Mathematical Expressions

a = 10 + 20.
b = 20 - 10.
c = 10 * 2.
d = 100 / 2.

variables

WRITE:/ 'Using Expressions'.

WRITE:/ a, b, c, d.

*Using Keywords
add 10 to a.
subtract 5 from b.
multiply c by 2.
divide d by 2.

WRITE:/ 'Using Keywords'.

WRITE:/ a, b, c, d.

Output

Clear ABAP variables

Use keyword CLEAR to set the variables to default values.
DATA: a TYPE i,
b TYPE i.

a = 10 + 20.
b = 20 - 10.

WRITE:/ 'Before Clear'.

WRITE:/ a, b.

clear: a, b.

WRITE:/ 'After Clear'.

WRITE:/ a, b.

Output

Control Statements
To control the flow of the ABAP program use the following statements.

IF

Branching

Conditionally

IF statement The code between IF and ENDIF is executed only if the condition is true.
DATA: a TYPE i VALUE 10.

" We can assign a value in the declaration

IF a > 5.
WRITE:/ 'Condition True'.
ENDIF.

Output

IF-ELSE statement The code between IF and ELSE is executed if the condition is true, the code
between ELSE andENDIF is executed if the condition is False.
DATA: a TYPE i VALUE 1.

IF a > 5.
WRITE:/ 'Condition True'.
ELSE.

WRITE:/ 'Condition False'.

ENDIF.

Output

IF-ELSEIF statement Used to check multiple conditions.

DATA: a TYPE i VALUE 2.

IF a > 5.
WRITE:/ a, 'Greater Than', 5.
ELSEIF a > 4.
WRITE:/ a, 'Greater Than', 4.
ELSEIF a > 3.
WRITE:/ a, 'Greater Than', 3.
ELSE.
WRITE:/ a, 'Less Than', 3.
ENDIF.

Output

CASE-ENDCASE Branching based on the content of the variable.

DATA: a TYPE i VALUE 4.

CASE a.
WHEN 3.
WRITE:/ a, 'Equals', 3.
WHEN 4.

WRITE:/ a, 'Equals', 4.
WHEN OTHERS.
WRITE:/ 'Not Found'.
ENDCASE.

Output

When no condition is met, OTHERS will be executed. OTHERS is not mandatory.

Loops
DO

ENDDO

Unconditional

Loop

DO can be used to execute a certain lines of codes specific number of times.

DO 5 TIMES.
WRITE sy-index.

" SY-INDEX (system variable) - Current loop pass

ENDDO.

Output

WHILE ENDWHILE Conditional Loop

WHILE can be used to execute a certain lines of codes as long as the condition is true.
WHILE sy-index < 3.
WRITE sy-index.
ENDWHILE.

Output

CONTINUE Terminate a loop pass unconditionally.

After continue the control directly goes to the end statement of the current loop pass ignoring the remaining
statements in the current loop pass, starts the next loop pass.
DO 5 TIMES.

IF sy-index = 2.
CONTINUE.
ENDIF.
WRITE sy-index.
ENDDO.

Output

CHECK Terminate a loop pass conditionally.

If the condition is false, the control directly goes to the end statement of the current loop pass ignoring the
remaining statements in the current loop pass, starts the next loop pass.
DO 5 TIMES.
CHECK sy-index < 3.
WRITE sy-index.
ENDDO.

Output

EXIT Terminate an entire loop pass unconditionally.

After EXIT statement the control goes to the next statement after the end of loop statement.
DO 10 TIMES.
IF sy-index = 2.
EXIT.
ENDIF.
WRITE sy-index.
ENDDO.

Output

String Operations
CONCATENATE Combines 2 or more strings into one string.
DATA: s1(10) VALUE 'Hello',
s2(10) VALUE 'ABAP',
s3(10) VALUE 'World',
result1(30),
result2(30).

CONCATENATE s1 s2 s3 INTO result1.

CONCATENATE s1 s2 s3 INTO result2 SEPARATED BY '-'.

WRITE / result1.
WRITE / result2.

Output

If the the concatenated string fits in the result string, then the system variable sy-subrc is set to 0. If the result has
to be truncated then sy-subrc is set to 4.
SPLIT Splits a string into 2 or more smaller strings.
DATA: s1(10), s2(10), s3(10),
source(20) VALUE 'abc-def-ghi'.

SPLIT source AT '-' INTO s1 s2 s3.

WRITE:/ 'S1 - ', s1.

WRITE:/ 'S2 - ', s2.
WRITE:/ 'S3 - ', s3.

Output

If all target fields are long enough and no target fields has to be truncated then sy-subrc is set to 0, else set to 4.
SEARCH Searches for a sub string in main string. If found then sy-subrc is set to 0, else set to 4.
DATA: string(30) VALUE 'SAP ABAP Development',
str(10) VALUE 'ABAP'.

SEARCH string FOR str.

IF sy-subrc = 0.
WRITE:/ 'Found'.
ELSE.
WRITE:/ 'Not found'.
ENDIF.

Output

REPLACE Replaces the sub string with another sub string specified, in the main string. If replaced successfully
then sy-subrc is set to 0, else set to 4.
DATA: string(30) VALUE 'SAP ABAP Development',
str(10) VALUE 'World'.

REPLACE 'Development' WITH str INTO string.

WRITE:/ string.

Output