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ABAP Keyword Documentation →  ABAP - Dictionary →  Built-In Data Types in ABAP Dictionary 

Overview of All Built-In Dictionary Types

The following tables show the built-in types in ABAP Dictionary and their fundamental technical attributes. For each built-in data type in ABAP Dictionary, the last column specifies the built-in ABAP type to which the built-in type is mapped in type references from an ABAP program to ABAP Dictionary. An initial value is assigned to most built-in data types. These initial values are applied, for example, when initial dynpro fields are displayed, when database fields are initialized, and in the ABAP SQL condition IS INITIAL.

Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54

General Types

Built-in data types without special .semantic attributes.

Numeric Types

Type Valid Places m Decimal Places n Initial Value Meaning ABAP Type
INT1 3 - 0 1-byte integer, 0 to 255 b
INT2 5 - 0 2-byte integer, -32,768 to 32,767 s
INT4 10 - 0 4-byte integer, -2,147,483,648 to +2,147,483,647 i
INT8 19 - 0 8-byte integer, -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to +9,223,372,036,854,775,807 int8
DEC 1-31 0-m, maximum 14 0 Packed number in BCD format p, length mDIV 2 + 1, decimal places n
DECFLOAT16 16 - 0 Decimal floating point number decfloat16
DF16_DEC 1-15 0-m, maximum 14 0 Decimal floating point number stored in BCD format decfloat16
DF16_RAW 16 - 0 Decimal floating point number stored in binary format decfloat16
DECFLOAT34 34 - 0 Decimal floating point number decfloat34
DF34_DEC 1-31 0-m, maximum 14 0 Decimal floating point number stored in BCD format decfloat34
DF34_RAW 34 - 0 Decimal floating point number stored in binary format decfloat34
FLTP 16 16 0 Binary floating point number f

See Integers, Packed Numbers, Binary Floating Point Numbers and Decimal Floating Point Numbers.

Character-Like Types

Type Valid Places m Initial Value Meaning ABAP Type
CHAR 1-30000, maximum of 1333 for table fields m blanks String c, length m
LCHR 256-32000 None long character string c, length m
SSTRING 1-1333 Empty string Character string string
STRING 256-... Empty string Character string (CLOB) string

See Character-Like Types and Byte-Like Types.

Byte-Like Types

Type Valid Places m Initial Value Meaning ABAP Type
RAW 1-32000 maximum of 255 for table fields None Byte string x, length m
LRAW 256-32000 None Long byte string x, length m
RAWSTRING 256-... Empty string Byte string (BLOB) xstring

See Character-Like Types and Byte-Like Types.

Special Types

Built-in data types with special semantic attributes.

Date Fields, Time Fields, and Time Stamp Fields

Type Valid Places m Initial Value Meaning ABAP Type
DATN 8 0 Date d
DATS 8 00000000 Date in the format YYYYMMDD d
TIMN 6 0 Time t
TIMS 6 000000 Time in the format HHMMSS t
ACCP 6 6 blanks Posting period in the format YYYYMM n, length 6
UTCLONG 27 0 Time stamp (exact to 100 ns) utclong

See Date Fields, Time Fields, and Time Stamp Fields.

Character-Like Types with Special Semantics

Type Valid Places m Initial Value Meaning ABAP Type
NUMC 1-255 m zeroes Numeric text n, length m
CLNT 3 000 Client c, length 3
LANG 1 Blank Language key c, length 1

See Special Character-Like Types.

Currency Fields and Quantity Fields

Type Valid Places m Decimal Places n Initial Value Meaning ABAP Type
CURR 1-31 1-m, maximum 14 0 Currency field in BCD format p, length mDIV 2 + 1, decimal places n
CUKY 5 - 5 blanks Currency key for currency fields c, length 5
QUAN 1-31 0-m, maximum 14 0 Quantity field in BCD format p, length mDIV 2 + 1, decimal places n
UNIT 2-3 - 2 or 3 blanks Unit key of a quantity field c, length m

See Currency Fields and Quantity Fields.

Geodata Types

Type Valid Places m Initial Value Meaning ABAP Type
GEOM_EWKB - Empty string Geometric data in EWKB representation xstring

See Geodata Types.

Obsolete Types

Type Valid Places m Initial Value Meaning ABAP Type
DF16_SCL 16 0 Decimal floating point number stored in binary format with scaling specified (obsolete) decfloat16
DF34_SCL 34 0 Decimal floating point number stored in binary format with scaling specified (obsolete) decfloat34
PREC 2 0 Obsolete data type s
VARC 1-... None Obsolete data type c, length m

See Obsolete Types.