Is initial

[Former Member]

Hi,

Can anybody explain is initial in the following code.

Select matnr from mara into table itab_mara.

if not itab_mara[] is initial.

select maktx from makt into itab_makt for all entries

in itab_mara whre matnr = itab_mara-matnr.

endif.

Thanks,

Sriram.

[Former Member]

Hi sriram,

Checked ur code, it seems it checks whether atleast one record exist in the internal table.

with regards,

praveen.

[Former Member]

Sriram,

Basically IS INITIAL is used to check where the table ot variable or field is empty or not.

In your case...you are selecting materials in to a table and if that table is not empty then retrieve the material description from makt table.

If the internal table is empty then the if condition is false and the statements inside the IF condition doesnt execute.

Thanks,

Naren

[Former Member]

IS INITIAL mean : if value of the variable is still same as it was at the time of declaration of varible.

regards

[Former Member]

Hi Sriram,

If these answers helped you, please reward and close the post.

Thanks,

Srinivas

[Former Member]

In addition to what Naren correctly explained, the reason why you are doing this in your particular case is that when you use "for all entries in itab" option, and if your "itab" is empty, then the SQL returns you all the entries in the database. So it is essential to check if there are any contents in your itab before you use this option.

Hope this is clear.

Regards,

Srinivas

[Former Member]

Hi Sriram,

Please take time to go through your previous posts and close them if answered.

Thanks,

Srinivas

[Former Member]

Hello Sriram,

Apart from the explanations given by the others, which I agree with, there's one small syntax issue with your code -

select matnr 
  from mara 
  into table itab_mara.

if not itab_mara[] is initial.
  select maktx 
    from makt 
    into itab_makt 
     for all entries in itab_mara 
   where matnr = itab_mara-matnr.
  <b>endselect.</b>
endif.

When you don't say INTO TABLE, then you need to have the SELECT...ENDSELECT. And within that you might append the data to the internal table.

select matnr 
  from mara 
  into table itab_mara.

if not itab_mara[] is initial.
  select maktx 
    from makt 
    into <b>table</b> itab_makt 
     for all entries in itab_mara 
   where matnr = itab_mara-matnr.
endif.

Regards,

Anand Mandalika.

[Former Member]

Good catch Anand. I completely missed that there is no "into table" addtion in his example.

Srinivas

[Former Member]

If these responses helped, please reward and close the post.

Srinivas