ABAP 7.40 SELECT .. ENDSELECT UP TO n ROWS syntax?

Question

Update: The question should be withdrawn, the grammar is correct. Apparently, SAP defines ABAP via a grammar, which is then modified by additional rules in plain text. I missed this second part.

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I'm looking at the ABAP Keyword Documentation 7.40, SELECT -> SELECT additions. For addition UP TO n ROWS, it gives the example

DATA: wa_scustom TYPE scustom.

SELECT *
       FROM scustom
       WHERE custtype = 'B'
       ORDER BY discount DESCENDING
       INTO @wa_scustom
       UP TO 3 ROWS.
ENDSELECT. 

I verified that code in an SAP 7.40 system and got the error

Row 7: "INTO" is not valid here. '.' is expected

On the other hand, the following code is accepted, although it is not covered by the grammar of SELECT as given in the document: UP TO n ROWS should be after the FROM.

SELECT COUNT(*) UP TO 1 ROWS
    FROM MARC
    WHERE matnr eq 100.

As we are writing a tool that automatically generates ABAP code, it would be nice to know what's legal and what's not. Is there a "definitive" document? In general, is it worth the try to contact someone at SAP for corrections? (You see, I'm somewhat alien to the SAP world) If yes, who could that be?

Answer 1

I can't check it right now, but I suspect that you have "INTO ..." and "UP TO ..." parts placed after "WHERE ..." and "ORDER BY ..." parts. Documentation states that the syntax of SELECT is:

SELECT result 
 INTO target
 FROM source 
 [WHERE condition]
 [GROUP BY fields] 
 [HAVING  cond]
 [ORDER BY fields].

with remark "The FROM clause ... can also be placed before the INTO clause." There are no remarks that you can insert WHERE/GROUP BY/HAVING/ORDER BY between SELECT/INTO/FROM.

So, give a try to:

SELECT *
   FROM scustom
   INTO @wa_scustom
   UP TO 3 ROWS
   WHERE custtype = 'B'
   ORDER BY discount DESCENDING.
ENDSELECT.