ABAP Keyword Documentation → ABAP Glossary
sharing
When assignments are made between dynamic data objects (strings of the same category and internal tables of the same category) and if these data types are passed by value, for performance reasons, only the required internal administration entries for the string or table body are passed (table sharing possible only if the row type itself does not contain any table types). Sharing is not canceled until one of the data objects involved is accessed and changed. At this point, the actual copy process takes place. See also initial value sharing.