Regular expressions provide a standardized and widely used toolset for processing text-based information effectively and efficiently. While regular expressions have been available for limited use in ABAP programs via workarounds, SAP has not included native support for this functionality — until now. With SAP NetWeaver 2004s, regular expressions have been integrated directly into ABAP. This article, the first in a two-part series, introduces regular expressions and details their integration into the ABAP world. A second companion article takes on more advanced topics and provides additional practical insights for using regular expressions effectively.
Bjoern Mielenhausen
Björn Mielenhausen joined SAP in 1998. He holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Oldenburg in Germany. He has been working on the ABAP compiler and runtime environment for several years. Since 2003, he has been the Development Manager for the ABAP core team.
You may contact the author at bjoern.mielenhausen@sap.com.
If you have comments about this article or publication, or would like to submit an article idea, please contact the editor.
Ralph Benzinger
Ralph Benzinger joined SAP in 2003. He is currently a developer in the ABAP language core development group, where he is working on the ABAP compiler and runtime environment. Ralph received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University in the US. Prior to joining SAP, he worked as a management consultant in the Business Technology Office of McKinsey & Company.
You may contact the author at ralph.benzinger@sap.com.
If you have comments about this article or publication, or would like to submit an article idea, please contact the editor.
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