SAP ABAP: String Operators Guide (Concatenate, Find, Replace)

ABAP provides various string operators to manipulate and compare strings efficiently. Below is a categorized list of commonly used string operators in ABAP.

1. Concatenation Operators

Using `&&` (ABAP 7.40 and later)

Concatenates two or more strings.

DATA: lv_string TYPE string.

lv_string = 'Hello' && ' ' && 'ABAP'.
WRITE: lv_string.  " Output: Hello ABAP

Using `CONCATENATE`

Concatenates multiple strings with an optional separator.

DATA: lv_string TYPE string.

CONCATENATE 'Hello' 'ABAP' INTO lv_string SEPARATED BY space.
WRITE: lv_string.  " Output: Hello ABAP

2. Comparison Operators

ABAP supports comparison operators to compare strings.

Operator	Description	Example
`=`	Equal to	`'ABAP' = 'ABAP'`
`<`	Less than	`'A' < 'B'`
`>`	Greater than	`'B' > 'A'`
`<>`	Not equal	`'ABAP' <> 'JAVA'`
`<=`	Less than or equal	`'A' <= 'A'`
`>=`	Greater than or equal	`'B' >= 'A'`

DATA: lv_str1 TYPE string VALUE 'ABAP',
      lv_str2 TYPE string VALUE 'SAP'.

IF lv_str1 < lv_str2.
  WRITE: 'ABAP comes before SAP'.
ELSE.
  WRITE: 'SAP comes before ABAP'.
ENDIF.

3. Substring & Searching Operators

Using `FIND` (Check if substring exists)

Finds a substring within a string.

DATA: lv_string TYPE string VALUE 'Hello ABAP',
      lv_substring TYPE string VALUE 'ABAP',
      lv_pos TYPE i.

FIND lv_substring IN lv_string MATCH OFFSET lv_pos.

IF sy-subrc = 0.
  WRITE: 'Found at position', lv_pos.
ELSE.
  WRITE: 'Not found'.
ENDIF.

Using `CS` (Contains)

Checks if a string contains a substring.

DATA(lv_string) = 'Hello ABAP'.

IF lv_string CS 'ABAP'.
  WRITE: 'Substring found!'.
ENDIF.

Using `CP` (Pattern Matching with Wildcards)

Checks if a string follows a certain pattern.

DATA(lv_string) = 'ABAP123'.

IF lv_string CP 'ABAP*'.
  WRITE: 'Pattern matches!'.
ENDIF.

'*' matches multiple characters (ABAP* matches ABAP123).
'?' matches a single character (ABAP???? matches ABAP1234).

4. Checking String Properties

Check if a String is Numeric (`IS NUMERIC`)

Checks if a string contains only numbers.

DATA: lv_string TYPE string VALUE '12345'.

IF lv_string IS NUMERIC.
  WRITE: 'The string is numeric'.
ELSE.
  WRITE: 'Not a numeric string'.
ENDIF.

Check if String Starts or Ends with a Substring

ABAP does not have a direct STARTSWITH or ENDSWITH function, but you can use FIND or offsets.

Check if String Starts with a Specific Value

DATA(lv_string) = 'ABAP Programming'.

IF lv_string+0(4) = 'ABAP'.
  WRITE: 'Starts with ABAP!'.
ENDIF.

Check if String Ends with a Specific Value

DATA(lv_string) = 'SAP ABAP'.

IF lv_string+strlen( lv_string ) - 4(4) = 'ABAP'.
  WRITE: 'Ends with ABAP!'.
ENDIF.

5. String Modification Operators

Convert to Uppercase (`TRANSLATE ... TO UPPER CASE`)

DATA(lv_string) = 'hello abap'.

TRANSLATE lv_string TO UPPER CASE.

WRITE: lv_string.  " Output: HELLO ABAP

Convert to Lowercase (`TRANSLATE ... TO LOWER CASE`)

DATA(lv_string) = 'HELLO ABAP'.

TRANSLATE lv_string TO LOWER CASE.

WRITE: lv_string.  " Output: hello abap

Replace Part of a String (`REPLACE`)

DATA: lv_string TYPE string VALUE 'I love ABAP'.

REPLACE 'ABAP' WITH 'SAP' INTO lv_string.

WRITE: lv_string.  " Output: I love SAP

6. String Length Operators

Find the Length of a String (`STRLEN`)

DATA: lv_string TYPE string VALUE 'ABAP Programming',
      lv_length TYPE i.

lv_length = STRLEN( lv_string ).

WRITE: 'Length:' lv_length.  " Output: Length: 16

7. Escape and Special Characters

Using Escape Characters in Strings

DATA(lv_string) = 'Hello \'ABAP\' World!'.
WRITE: lv_string.  " Output: Hello 'ABAP' World!

Using Line Breaks (`cl_abap_char_utilities=>cr_lf`)

DATA: lv_string TYPE string.

lv_string = 'Hello ABAP' && cl_abap_char_utilities=>cr_lf && 'New Line!'.
WRITE: / lv_string.

Summary of Key String Operators in ABAP

Operation	Operator / Function	Example
Concatenation	`&&` / `CONCATENATE`	`'ABAP' && ' SAP'` → `'ABAP SAP'`
Comparison	`=` `<` `>` `<>` `<=` `>=`	`'ABAP' < 'SAP'`
Substring Check	`FIND` / `CS` / `CP`	`'ABAP' CS 'BA'`
String Length	`STRLEN( string )`	`STRLEN( 'ABAP' ) = 4`
Replace Text	`REPLACE`	`REPLACE 'ABAP' WITH 'SAP'`
Uppercase/Lowercase	`TRANSLATE TO UPPER/LOWER`	`TRANSLATE lv_string TO UPPER CASE`
Numeric Check	`IS NUMERIC`	`'1234' IS NUMERIC`
Newline Character	`cl_abap_char_utilities=>cr_lf`	`'Hello' && cr_lf && 'World'`

🚀 Conclusion

Concatenation: Use && or CONCATENATE.
Comparison: Use = < > <> CS CP.
Substring search: Use FIND, CS, or offsets.
Modify strings: Use TRANSLATE, REPLACE, and TO UPPER/LOWER CASE.
Check properties: Use IS NUMERIC, offsets, and STRLEN.

1. Concatenation Operators

Using && (ABAP 7.40 and later)

Using CONCATENATE