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ABAP Keyword Documentation →  ABAP − Reference →  Processing Internal Data →  Assignments →  Assignment and Conversion Rules →  Conversion Rules for Elementary Data Objects →  Character-Like Source Fields 

Source Field Type c

Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54

Numeric Target Fields

Target Conversion
i, int8, (b, s) The source field must contain a number in mathematical or commercial notation. If not, the handleableexception CX_SY_CONVERSION_NO_NUMBER is raised. Exception: A source field that contains only blank characters is interpreted as the number zero. Scientific notation is not allowed, unless it can be interpreted as a mathematical notation.Decimal places arerounded commercially to integer values. If the number is in the value range of data types i, int8,(b, s), it is converted to the corresponding internalrepresentation of an integral number, otherwise the handleable exception CX_SY_CONVERSION_OVERFLOW is raised.
p The source field must contain a number in mathematical or commercial notation. If not, the handleableexception CX_SY_CONVERSION_NO_NUMBER is raised. Exception: A source field that contains only blank charactersis interpreted as the number zero. Scientific notation is not allowed, unless it can be interpretedas a mathematical notation. Decimal places are rounded commercially to the number of decimal placesin the target field. If the number is in the value range of the data type of the target field, it isconverted to the internal representation of a packed number, otherwise the handleable exception CX_SY_CONVERSION_OVERFLOW is raised.
decfloat16, decfloat34 The source field must contain a number in mathematical,scientific, orcommercial notation.If not, the handleable exception CX_SY_CONVERSION_NO_NUMBER is raised. Exception: A source field thatcontains only blank characters is interpreted as the number zero. If the number of digits is greaterthan 16 or 34, it is rounded commercially to 16 or 34 places. If the absolute value of the number isless than 1E-398 or 1E-6176, it is rounded to 0. If the number is in the value range of the data typesdecfloat16 or decfloat34, it is converted to theinternal representation of a decimal floating point number, otherwise the handleable exception CX_SY_CONVERSION_OVERFLOW is raised. If the mantissa of the target field is long enough, thescaling of the source field is preserved. The sign is always preserved, even if the number has the value 0.
f The source field must contain a number in scientific notation, with the first blank after a number ending this number. If not, the handleableexception CX_SY_CONVERSION_NO_NUMBER is raised. Exception: A source field that contains only blanks or that starts with blanks not followed by a valid number is interpreted as zero.Mathematical orcommercial notationis not permitted unless it can be interpreted as scientific notation. Exception: Commercial notationwhere the sign on the right is not separated by blanks is valid if the character string starts directlywith the string of digits. If the mantissa contains more than 17 digits, surplus digits are rounded up or down. If the number is in thevalue range of data typef, it is converted to the internal representation of a binary floating pointnumber, otherwise the handleable exception CX_SY_CONVERSION_OVERFLOW is raised. If the decimal number cannot be represented as a binary floating point number, the nearest value is used.


Note

  • The class CL_ABAP_DECFLOAT contains the methods READ_DECFLOAT34 and READ_DECFLOAT16, which convert character strings into decimal floating point numbers. The exceptions of these methods are more significant than those of a normal assignment. Furthermore, the methods return a return value that reveals information about the roundings performed.


Example

The first conversion raises an exception, since numbers in scientific notation cannot be converted to the type i. Two conversions take place in the CATCH block. The conversion operator CONV converts from c to decfloat34 and this result is converted to i when assigned to result.

TRY. 
    DATA(result) = CONV i( '1.123E+3' ). 
  CATCH cx_sy_conversion_no_number. 
    result = CONV decfloat34( '1.123E+3' ). 
ENDTRY.

Character-Like Target Fields

Target Conversion
c The characters in the source field are passed left-justified to the target field (including anyleading blanks). Trailing blanks in the source field are not passed. If the target field is longer thanthe number of characters passed, it is padded with blanks on the right. If the target field is shorter, it is truncated on the right.
n The characters in the source field that represent digits are passed right-justified to the targetfield. Other characters are ignored. If the target field is longer than the number of digits in thesource field, it is padded on the left with the character "0". If the target field is shorter, the characters are cut off on the left.
string The characters in the source field are passed to the target field (including any leading blanks).Trailing blanks in the source field are not passed. The length of the target field is determined by the number of characters passed.


Notes

  • In ABAP, the trailing blanks in source fields of type c are ignored, by default. An assignment from source type c to target type t is an exception to this rule.

  • To assign source fields of type c to target fields (particularly target fields of type string) and respect the trailing blanks, the addition RESPECTING BLANKS of the statement CONCATENATE can be used.


Example

The string produced by the conversion is abcd with length 4. The trailing blanks of the literal with type c and length 8 are not passed.

DATA(result) = CONV string( 'abcd    ' ).

Byte-Like Target Fields

Target Conversion
x The characters in the source field are interpreted as the representation of the value of a half-byte in hexadecimal representation. If the valid characters "0" to "9" and"A" to "F" appear, the corresponding half-bytevalues are passed left-justified to the memory of the target field. If the target field is longer thanthe number of half-bytes passed, it is padded on the right with hexadecimal 0. If it is too short, thenumber is truncated on the right. The first invalid character terminates the conversion from the position of this character and the half-bytes not filled up to that point are padded with hexadecimal 0.
xstring The same conversion rules apply as to a field of type x. Half-bytes arepassed to the target field, and the length of the target field is determined by the number of validcharacters in the source field. If number of valid characters in the source field is odd, the last remaining half-byte in the target field is padded with hexadecimal 0.


Example

The byte chain produced by the conversion is 0123456789ABCDEF.

DATA(result) = CONV xstring( '0123456789ABCDEFXXXXXXX' ).

Date/Time Fields as Target Fields

Target Conversion
d The same conversion rules apply as to a field of type c of length 8.
t The same conversion rules apply as to a field of type c with the length6, with the exception that trailing blanks are passed and if the target field is longer than the number of characters passed, the field is padded on the right with the character "0".
utclong The source field must contain a valid representation ofa time stamp, such as "yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.fffffff", which is converted to the internal representation of atime stamp field. Anyinitial source fields are converted to the initial value of a time stamp field. In all other cases, or if an invalid time stamp were to be produced, an exception of the class CX_SY_CONVERSION_NO_DATE_TIME is raised.


Notes

  • If, when converted to the type d, the source field does not have a valid date in the format "yyyymmdd" in the first eight places, the target field contains an invalid date after the conversion. Similarly, a conversion to the type t can produced an invalid time.

  • In conversions to the type utclong, the dates "1582-10-05” to "1582-10-14" cannot be specified (due to the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar). No leap seconds ("23:59:60.fffffff") are supported.


Example

The result of the following conversion is the invalid time XX  00.

DATA(result) = CONV t( 'XX  ' ).

Example

Both conversions produce the same time stamp.

ASSERT CONV utclong( '2019-04-08 24:00:00.00' ) = 
       CONV utclong( '2019-04-09T00:00:00,0000' ).