What are Internal Tables?

Internal Tables are standard data type objects which exist only during the Runtime of an ABAP program. They are used to perform table calculations on subsets of database tables and for re-organizing the contents of database tables according to a user’s need. Internal tables fulfill the need for arrays in ABAP.

There are three types of internal tables:

• Standard Tables with a ‘linear’ index. The key is always ‘non-unique.’
• Sorted Tables with either a ‘unique’ or ‘non-unique’ key.
• Hashed Tables (they do not have a linear index) with the key defined always as ‘unique.’

If you like this post, you may as well like these too:

1. Source Code: Working with database tables and internal tables REPORT ZSOURCE0103. * Declaration of a work area for a Dictionary tableTABLES CUSTOMERS. * Internal table used as snapshot of the database tableDATA ALL_CUSTOMERS LIKE CUSTOMERS OCCURS 100 WITH HEADER...
2. ABAP Programs: Using internal tables as snapshots of database tables REPORT ZSOURCE1103.* Work area for a database tableTABLES CUSTOMERS.* Internal tableDATA ALL_CUSTOMERS LIKE CUSTOMERS OCCURS 100 WITH HEADER LINE.* Filling the internal table with all entries of the database tableSELECT...
3. ABAP Programs: Records and internal tables REPORT ZSOURCE0407. * Records (or structures) consist of a fixed number of componentsDATA: BEGIN OF CUSTOMER, ID(8) TYPE N, NAME(25), TELEPHONE(12), END OF CUSTOMER. * Working with the different components...
4. ABAP Programs: Using Internal Tables for Selection Criteria REPORT ZSOURCE1112.* Work areasTABLES: CUSTOMERS, BOOKINGS.* Internal tablesDATA: ALL_CUSTOMERS LIKE CUSTOMERS OCCURS 100 WITH HEADER LINE, ALL_BOOKINGS LIKE BOOKINGS OCCURS 500 WITH HEADER LINE.* Reading entries from both database tableSELECT...
5. ABAP Programs: Internal tables with header lines REPORT ZSOURCE1202.* Work area for a database tableTABLES CUSTOMERS.* Defining an internal table with header lineDATA ALL_CUSTOMERS LIKE CUSTOMERS OCCURS 100 WITH HEADER LINE.* Reading all entries of the database...
6. ABAP Tips on Data Dictionary and Internal tables Data Dictionary Maintenance Views Lock Objects Internal Tables Free text search in a field in a internal table Types of Internal Tables Working with Internal Tables...