ABAP predefined functions - LINES

When dealing with internal tables, many a time, you are looking to know the number of records the table holds.

In this bite-sized post, I will try to show you how to use ABAP predefined function LINES over the traditional approach of using DESCRIBE keyword.

ABAP veterans have been using the good old DESCRIBE keyword to get the number of lines of an internal table.

 A typical example:

	REPORT syst-repid.
	DATA:
	lt_marc TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF marc.
	DATA:
	lv_lines TYPE i,
	lv_text TYPE string.
	PARAMETERS:
	p_matnr TYPE matnr.
	START-OF-SELECTION.
	SELECT *
	FROM marc
	INTO TABLE lt_marc
	WHERE matnr = p_matnr.
	IF syst-subrc <> 0.
	CLEAR:
	lt_marc[].
	ENDIF.
	DESCRIBE TABLE lt_marc LINES lv_lines.
	lv_text = |No. of fetched records: { lv_lines } |.
	cl_demo_output=>display( lv_text ).

view raw itab_lines_describe.abap hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Function Lines:

The lines function returns the number of rows of an internal table. The argument must be an internal table. The return value has type I. 

Furthermore, the result of the function can directly be passed to suitable operand positions and method calls. 

Same example using LINES:

	REPORT syst-repid.
	DATA:
	lt_marc TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF marc.
	PARAMETERS:
	p_matnr TYPE matnr.
	START-OF-SELECTION.
	SELECT *
	FROM marc
	INTO TABLE lt_marc
	WHERE matnr = p_matnr.
	IF syst-subrc <> 0.
	CLEAR:
	lt_marc[].
	ENDIF.
	cl_demo_output=>display( |No. of fetched records: { lines( lt_marc[] ) } | ).

view raw itab_lines_lines.abap hosted with ❤ by GitHub