EXTRACTS

Since internal tables have fixed line structures, they are not suited to handle data sets with varying structures. Instead, you can use extract datasets for this purpose.

An extract is a sequential dataset in the memory area of the program. You can only address the entries in the dataset within a special loop.  The index or key access permitted with internal tables is not allowed. You may only create one extract in any ABAP program.  The size of an extract dataset is, in principle, unlimited. Extracts larger than 500KB are stored in operating system files. The practical size of an extract is up to 2GB, as long as there is enough space in the filesystem.

An extract dataset consists of a sequence of records of a pre-defined structure. However, the structure need not be identical for all records. In one extract dataset, you can store records of different length and structure one after the other. You need not create an individual dataset for each different structure you want to store. This fact reduces the maintenance effort considerably.

In contrast to internal tables, the system partly compresses extract datasets when storing them. This reduces the storage space required. In addition, you need not specify the structure of an extract dataset at the beginning of the program, but you can determine it dynamically during the flow of the program.

You can use control level processing with extracts just as you can with internal tables.  The internal administration for extract datasets is optimized so that it is quicker to use an extract for control level processing than an internal table.

Procedure for creating an extract:

1. Define the record types that you want to use in your extract by declaring them as field groups. The structure is defined by including fields in each field group.  -----  Defining an Extract -----

2. Fill the extract line by line by extracting the required data.------ Filling an Extract with Data -----

3. Once you have filled the extract, you can sort it and process it in a loop. At this stage, you can no longer change the contents of the extract. ------ Processing Extracts  ------