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Built-In Data Types and Data ObjectsLocate this document in the navigation structure

Built-in data types refer to types that are made available to an ABAP program by the runtime system. Currently, all built-in data types are also simultaneously elementary data types - that is, none of them are made up of other types. We distinguish between two types of built-in types. There are built-in types whose length is statically defined through their definition, and there are built-in types whose length can change dynamically during runtime.

If you wish to work with data that is available to all programs of an SAP System or if you wish to pass data between programs, you require type information that is independent of an individual ABAP program. For this purpose, you use the ABAP Dictionary. The ABAP Dictionary is a cross-program storage area for type descriptions. All Repository objects have access to it. All data types of the ABAP Dictionary can be used in ABAP programs just like local program types.

ABAP also contains a set of built-in data objects that can always be accessed in ABAP programs.