ABAP Keyword Documentation → ABAP - Reference → Program Flow → Control Structures → Loops
WHILE
Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54
Syntax
WHILE log_exp.
[statement_block]
ENDWHILE.
Effect
Conditional loop. The statements WHILE and ENDWHILE
define a control structure that can contain a closed statement block statement_block. After WHILE, any
logical expression log_exp can follow.
The statement block is repeated as long as the logical expression is true, or until it is exited with
one of the statements to leave loops. In particular, the
EXIT statement is perfect for completely exiting a loop. Within the statement block, system
field sy-index contains the number of previous loop passes , including the current pass. In nested loops, sy-index always refers to the current loop.
,Note
The obsolete addition VARY can be used to process a sequence of objects in the memory.
Example
Replace all blank characters with hyphens in a character-type data object text.
Instead of the loop shown here for demonstartion purposes, in a productive program the ALL
OCCURRENCES addition of the statement
REPLACE or the built-in replace
function with the value 0 for the argument occ should be used for this task.
DATA text TYPE string VALUE `One Two Three`.
WHILE sy-subrc = 0.
REPLACE ` ` IN text WITH `-`.
ENDWHILE.