ABAP Keyword Documentation → ABAP − Reference → Processing Internal Data → Assignments → Lossless Assignments → Lossless Assignments - Rules
Checking Structures
The operator EXACT
can only be used to convert structures to
compatible structures. Full compatibility is not required for the following deep components, for which the specified requirements apply:
- For components that have a reference type, up casts but not down casts are permitted.
- For table-like components, it is sufficient if the row type is compatible. This means that the full compatibility needed for table categories and table keys is not required here.
Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54
Notes
- When the operator
EXACT
is used, the conversion rules for flat structures are the same as those for deep structures. It is not possible to make conversions between structures and elementary data objects.
- If the structured types are compatible, no further checks are made on the content. If the source
structure contains invalid data, this data is assigned to a compatible return value, even when the addition
EXACT
is used.
Example
Unlike simple conversion, lossless assignment leads to a syntax error.
BEGIN OF struc,
col1 TYPE d,
col2 TYPE t,
END OF struc.
DATA(result1) = CONV string( struc ). "Possible
DATA(result2) = EXACT string( struc ). "Not possible