WRITE – Output as line ( SAP ABAP keyword)

WRITE ( Output as line )is a keyword used in SAP ABAP programming.This tutorial covers its introduction & syntax details.

WRITE – Output as line

Effect
On
list output, automatically links certain characters together to form
continuous lines or boxes, if there is no space between them:

vertical lines, output with the system field SY-VLINE or using a field with the contents ” | ” (vertical line)
horizontal lines, output with the system field SY-ULINE or using a field with at least 2 consecutive minus signs ” — “.

Exactly
how each line segment is output (e.g. whether as straight line, corner,
T-piece or cross) depends on the adjoining characters.
A good rule
of thumb sipulates that if the cell adjacent to a line character also
contains a line character, the missing piece required to form a
connection is added. If an adjacent cell does not also contain a line
character, the line character is truncated on that side. Line
characters standing on their own remain unchanged.
This technique is
sufficient to cope with most cases (e.g. tables, boxes, simple
hierarchies). However, no matter how carefully you use some empty
characters and lines, it is not possible to stop adjacent line
characters being joined in an inappropriate way (e.g. very compact
hierarchy diagrams, or densely boxes). The solution here is to output
the required line segment explicitly using the addition … AS LINE .
The
include (or the more comprehensive include ) contains the relevant
identifiers for lines as constants, e.g. LINE_TOP_LEFT_CORNER ,
LINE_BOTTOM_MIDDLE_CORNER .

Note
Lines
cannot have any other display attributes. If attributes such as color (
COLOR ), reverse video ( INVERSE ) or intensified ( INTENSIFIED ) are
set, these are ignored on output. If the ready for input attribute (
INPUT ) is set, the actual characters (minus sign, vertical line) are
displayed.

Example
Output two nested corner segments:

INCLUDE .

ULINE /1(50).
WRITE: / SY-VLINE NO-GAP, LINE_TOP_LEFT_CORNER AS LINE.
ULINE 3(48).
WRITE: / SY-VLINE NO-GAP, SY-VLINE NO-GAP.