Processing Character Strings

Use Only Character-Type Fields when Processing Strings

To process character strings, only character-like fields (data types C, D, N, STRING, T and -- in non-Unicode systems -- X and XSTRING) can be used.

Error message in ABAP Objects if the following syntax is used:

DATA int TYPE i.
SHIFT int BY 3 PLACES.

Correct syntax:

DATA int(4) TYPE c.
SHIFT int BY 3 PLACES.

Reason:

The statements for character string processing treat their operands as character-like irrespective of their actual type, which may lead to undefined results in connection with fields that are not character-like.