From Release 6.10, ABAP supports multi-byte coding for characters in Unicode. Prior to Release 6.10, ABAP used only character sets that were based on single-byte codes – such as ASCII and EBCDIC – or double-byte codes, such as SJIS and BIG5.
This switch to Unicode affects all statements where an explicit or implicit assumption is made about the internal length of a character. If you use these statements in a program that is designed to exploit the Unicode capabilities of the runtime environment, they must be checked and changed if necessary. Once a Unicode-enabled program has been changed accordingly, it behaves in the same way in both Unicode and non-Unicode systems. You can develop programs in a non-Unicode system (NUS) and then import them into a Unicode system (US). The following sections describe the conversions that are necessary:
Character Codes ABAP Development Under Unicode Concepts and Conventions Restrictions in Unicode Programs New ABAP Statements for Unicode New Classes for Unicode RFC and Unicode Other Measures Other Sample Programs Unicode Glossary