[FIXED] What is # symbol in ABAP?

Issue

I found a piece of code like in the picture, in this case I know more or less what it causes, but generally I don't know the #( ) syntax. What is the #( ) syntax and where can I find more about it?

DATA: lv_str TYPE string VALUE 'ABCD'. 
DATA: dref1 TYPE REF TO data. 
DATA: dref2 TYPE REF TO data. 


* Old Syntax 
GET REFERENCE OF LV_STR INTO dref1. 
* New Syntax 
dref2 = REF #( LV_STR ). 
BREAK-POINT.

Solution

The # is a placeholder for the type of the variable. You could write line 11 as this as well:

dref2 = REF data( lv_str ).

That would do the same thing. The # automatically takes the type of the variable on the left, if you don't specify it.

I've not seen it with TYPE REF TO before this, but it's fairly common as VALUE #( )

I haven't found any documentation on the REF #( ) version but here is the official SAP documentation for VALUE #( ), it explains what the # does too.

Answered By - Herr Berthm

Answer Checked By - Terry (PHPFixing Volunteer)