ABAP 'EXISTS' with variables

Question

Hi ABAP, I need help on the following simple scenario:
I want to count all the records in my TARGETTABLE that TARGETCOLUMN entries exist in SOURCECOLUMN in my SOURCE TABLE
all of them have been defined as variables
SELECT COUNT( * )
  FROM (TARGETTABLE) INTO F1
  WHERE (TARGETCOLUMNCONDITION)
*Its working up to this point, but the following where clause does not work
    AND EXISTS ( SELECT *
                  FROM (TARGETTABLE)
                  WHERE (TARGETCOLUMN) = (SOURCETABLE)~(SOURCECOLUMN) ).
Error message: "Incorrect expression "=" in logical condition
Got the subquery from: https://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/dc/dc7614099b11d295320000e8353423/content.htm
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

At runttime, what is the value of:
targettable
targetcolumncondition
sourcetable
sourcecolumn
Have you used exactly:
DATA: where_clause type string.
where_clause = TARGETCOLUMN && | = | && SOURCETABLE && |~| && SOURCECOLUMN.
SELECT COUNT( * )
  FROM (TARGETTABLE) INTO F1
  WHERE (TARGETCOLUMNCONDITION)
    AND EXISTS ( SELECT *
                  FROM (TARGETTABLE)     "<---- and shouldn't this be SOURCE TABLE?
                  WHERE (whereclause).
It would help if you would supply the runtime version of your query.