ABAP Dynamic Programming Field-Symbols

Example

Field-Symbols are ABAP's equivalent to pointers, except that Field-Symbols are always dereferenced (it is not possible to change the actual address in memory).

Declaration

To declare a Field-Symbol the keyword FIELD-SYMBOLS must be used. Types can be generic (ANY [... TABLE]) to handle a wide variety of variables.

FIELD-SYMBOLS: <fs_line>     TYPE any,    "generic
               <fs_struct>   TYPE kna1.   "non-generic

Assigning

Field-Symbols are unassigned on declaration, which means that they are pointing to nothing. Accessing an unassigned Field-Symbol will lead to an exception, and, if uncaught, to a short dump. Therefore, the state should be checked with IS ASSIGNED:

IF <fs> IS ASSIGNED.
*... symbol is assigned
ENDIF.

As they are only references, no real data can be stored inside. So, declared DATA is needed in every case of use.

DATA: w_name  TYPE string VALUE `Max`,
      w_index TYPE i      VALUE 1.
 
FIELD-SYMBOLS <fs_name> TYPE any.

ASSIGN w_name TO <fs_name>. "<fs_name> now gets w_name
<fs_name> = 'Manni'.        "Changes to <fs_name> now also affect w_name

* As <fs_name> is generic, it can also be used for numbers

ASSIGN w_index TO <fs_name>. "<fs_name> now refers to w_index.    
ADD 1 TO <fs_name>.          "w_index gets incremented by one

Unassigning

Sometimes it could be useful to reset a Field-Symbol. This can be done using UNASSIGN.

UNASSIGN <fs>.
* Access on <fs> now leads to an exception again

Use for internal tables

Field-Symbols may be used to modify internal tables.

LOOP AT itab INTO DATA(wa).
* Only modifies wa_line
    wa-name1 = 'Max'. 
ENDLOOP.    

LOOP AT itab ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<fs>).
* Directly refers to a line of itab and modifies its values
    <fs>-name1 = 'Max'. 
ENDLOOP.

Attention! Field-Symbols stay assigned even after leaving the loop. If you want to reuse them safely, unassign them immediately.