Selecting the last record from a database table

Question

In my ABAP Program, I have to use a select statement to retrieve the last record from the database table with the same key.  In other words, the Program will get more than one hit on the database table for the selected keys and I need to retrieve values from only the last record and not the first.  I know I can use an internal table to sort the records first and then retrieve the right value.   But to make things easier, is there a SELECT statement keyword than I can use to do this in one single step?  Thanks!

Answer 1

hi,
tables:mara.
    data: begin of it_mara occurs 0,
            matnr like mara-matnr,
            meins like mara-meins,
            mtart like mara-mtart,
            end of it_mara.
select-options:s_matnr for mara-matnr.
select matnr
          meins
          mtart
from mara
into table it_mara
where matnr in s_matnr.
if not it_mara[] is initial.
sort it_mara by matnr descending.
read table it_mara index 1.
endif.
then you get the last record of the select statement.
reward points if useful,
venkat.