A reference type is a reference to a different type. You use a reference type to define the type of reference variables in ABAP Objects. There are several kinds of reference types:

• Reference to a class or an interface
• Reference to a type defined in the Dictionary
• Generic reference to ANY, OBJECT, or DATA. A reference of type ANY can point to objects as well as to data.
• Reference to a predefined Dictionary type including the length specification and possibly the decimal places