ABAP Keyword Documentation → ABAP Glossary
reference variable
Data object that contains a
reference. Reference variables can be either
data reference variables or
object reference
variables. Reference variables have a length of 8 bytes and are opaque, which means the reference
cannot be accessed directly. These are typed with the addition REF TO, which defines their
static type. The static type is always more general than or the same as the
dynamic type. For assignments between reference variables,
reference semantics apply.