You use the DATA statement to define local and global variables. For further information about the difference between local and global variables, see Passing Data Between Calling Programs and Subroutines.

The DATA statement has one basic form and three main variants:

• DATA statement for structures

Due to the complex nature of internal tables, a separate section is dedicated to this topic. For further information about internal tables, refer to Creating and Processing Internal Tables.

You declare common memory blocks for several programs in connection with external subroutines. Therefore, this topic is covered in the section Declaring Data as a Common Area.