Escape character for names in ABAP

Escape character for names.

The character “!” can be written directly before a name in order to distinguish it from an ABAP word of the same name in a statement. With the exception of the first word, each word of a statement that is preceded by the escape character is interpreted as an operand, and not as an ABAP word, in program generation. The escape character itself is not part of a name and is ignored when the statement is executed.

Note:

The escape character may be required on rare occasions in which the compiler cannot tell the difference between an operand and a reserved word of the same name. Otherwise, it can be used for the documentation of operands in the source code.

Example:

Without the escape character “!” before CHANGING after USING, the following program would be syntactically incorrect, because a formal parameter must be entered after USING. Although the second escape character is not necessary, it serves to document USING after CHANGING as a formal parameter.

We can’t activate this piece of code:

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*&---------------------------------------------------------------------* *& Report Z_TEST_PROGRAM *& *&---------------------------------------------------------------------* *& *& *&---------------------------------------------------------------------* REPORT Z_TEST_PROGRAM. data: var1 type char2, var2 type char2. var1 = 'TE'. perform sub_test using var1 CHANGING var2. FORM sub_test using changing changing using. using = changing. endform.

But if we change the code to:

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*&---------------------------------------------------------------------* *& Report Z_TEST_PROGRAM *& *&---------------------------------------------------------------------* *& *& *&---------------------------------------------------------------------* REPORT Z_TEST_PROGRAM. data: var1 type char2, var2 type char2. var1 = 'TE'. perform sub_test using var1 CHANGING var2. FORM sub_test using !changing changing !using. using = changing. endform.

This doesn't give any syntactical error, as shown below.