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Read and navigate

Pull source, metadata, and history for any object; search and browse; and jump around the code the way an IDE would, including compiler-authoritative completion. All read-only and safe to run freely.

Read source​

source get writes the object's source to stdout. Pipe it wherever you need it.

abapctl source get ZCL_FOO                          # main include
abapctl source get ZCL_FOO --include testclasses    # a specific class include
abapctl object info ZCL_FOO                          # metadata, includes, links

For a class, the plain source get returns the full source including method bodies. The class includes definitions, implementations, and testclasses are addressable with --include.

To pull an entire package at once, use a workspace instead of fetching object by object.

Search and browse​

abapctl object search 'ZCL_FOO*' --type CLAS        # name pattern, optional type/package filter
abapctl object tree ZFINANCE                         # browse objects in a package
abapctl object path ZCL_FOO                          # hierarchical path from root to object
abapctl object history ZCL_FOO                       # revision history

object search accepts wildcards and --type / --package filters. object tree browses a package's object hierarchy; object path shows where an object sits in the repository tree.

These wrap the same ADT navigation endpoints Eclipse uses, taking a cursor position (--line / --col) into the object's source.

abapctl code definition ZCL_FOO --line 42 --col 18   # go to definition / implementation
abapctl code references ZCL_FOO --line 42 --col 18   # find all references (where-used)
abapctl code element-info ZCL_FOO --line 42 --col 18 # type, docs, components at cursor
abapctl code snippets ZCL_FOO --line 42 --col 18     # code context at each reference site

The cycle is: navigate to a definition, read the element info to understand it, then use references/snippets to assess impact before changing it.

Compiler-authoritative completion​

code complete calls SAP's abapsource/codecompletion/proposal endpoint, the same call Eclipse makes for its Ctrl+Space dropdown. The response is the compiler's view of valid identifiers at that cursor position, not a guess.

abapctl code complete ZCL_FOO --line 47 --col 47               # completions at cursor
abapctl code complete ZCL_FOO --line 47 --col 47 --kind method # filter by symbol kind

Two flags make this useful for AI agents:

  • --prefix <text> splices draft text in at the cursor before asking the compiler, so you can validate an identifier an agent is about to emit (a hallucination guard).
  • --source <path> validates an unsaved local buffer instead of the SAP-active source.

This endpoint works across releases, including older backends.

See also​