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ABAP - Keyword Documentation → ABAP - Dictionary → ABAP CDS in ABAP Dictionary → ABAP CDS - Data Definitions → ABAP CDS - DDL for Data Definitions → ABAP CDS - DEFINE VIEW → ABAP CDS - SELECT → ABAP CDS - SELECT, Built-In Functions → ABAP CDS - sql_functions →ABAP CDS - String Functions
The following table shows the possible SQL functions for character strings in a CDS view, plus the requirements made on the arguments. The meaning of the functions can be found under SQL Functions for Strings.
| Function | Valid Argument Types | Result Type |
| CONCAT(arg1, arg2) | See below | SSTRING if an argument has the type SSTRING, else CHAR with the length of the result. |
| CONCAT_WITH_SPACE(arg1, arg2, spaces ) | arg1, arg2: see below spaces: positive numeric literal greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1331 |
SSTRING if an argument has the type SSTRING, else CHAR with the length of the result. |
| INSTR(arg, sub) | arg: see below sub: non-empty numeric literal |
INT4 |
| LEFT(arg, len) | arg: see below len: positive numeric literal greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1333 |
SSTRING if arg has the type SSTRING, else CHAR with length len |
| LENGTH(arg) | See below | INT4 |
| LOWER( arg ) | See below, with the exception of NUMC, DATS and TIMS | Data type of arg in the length of arg |
| LPAD(arg, len, src) | arg: see below len: positive numeric literal greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1333 src: character Literal |
SSTRING if arg has the type SSTRING, else CHAR with length len |
| LTRIM(arg, char) | arg: see below char: Character literal with length 1 |
SSTRING if arg has the type SSTRING, else CHAR with the length of arg. |
| REPLACE(arg1, arg2, arg3) | See below | SSTRING if arg1 or arg3 has the type SSTRING, else CHAR with the maximum possible length of the result. |
| RIGHT(arg,len) | arg: see below len: positive numeric literal greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1333 |
SSTRING if arg has the type SSTRING, else CHAR with length len |
| RPAD(arg, len, src) | arg: see below len: positive numeric literal greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1333 src: character literal |
SSTRING if arg has the type SSTRING, else CHAR with length len |
| RTRIM(arg, char) | arg: see below char: Character literal with length 1 |
SSTRING if arg has the type SSTRING, else CHAR with the length of arg. |
| SUBSTRING(arg, pos, len) | arg: see below pos and len: positive numeric literal not equal to zero |
SSTRING if arg has the type SSTRING, else CHAR or NUMCwith length of at lest len |
| UPPER( arg ) | See below, with the exception of NUMC, DATS and TIMS | Data types of arg in the lenght of arg |
The following can be specified as the arguments arg:
The valid argument types for arg, arg1, arg2, and arg3 are CHAR, CLNT, LANG, NUMC, CUKY, UNIT, DATS, TIMS, and SSTRING.
In functions where an explicit length len is specified, the actual length of the result is defined when the CDS view is activated and is at least as long as len.
In all functions with the exception of LPAD and RPAD, the trailing blanks of all arguments are removed before the actual processing and the trailing blanks of the result are removed before the return operation. In LPAD and RPAD, the trailing blanks of the argument src are preserved. In the case of UPPER and LOWER, the handling of trailing blanks makes no difference, as the length of the argument is retained.
Note
The characters in the surrogate area of the system code page UTF-16 are handled as two characters by the CDS string functions. This must be respected when the length is determined and these characters must not be split by mistake. Functions UPPER and LOWER do not change the character of the surrogate area.
Example
The following CDS view applies predefined SQL functions for strings in the SELECT list to columns of the database table DEMO_EXPRESSIONS. The program DEMO_CDS_SQL_FUNCTIONS_STRING uses SELECT to access the view.