Redundant IF Condition Before LOOP AT

WarningClean ABAP & Modern Syntax#EC NO_LOOP_GUARDRemote Enabled✏️ Edit Rule on GitHub

Overview

Redundant IF condition before LOOP AT.

ATC Finding Message: Unnecessary IF guard before LOOP AT; an empty table iterates 0 times

Rationale

An internal table loop (LOOP AT itab) executes zero times when the internal table is empty. Wrapping the entire loop in an IF itab IS NOT INITIAL check adds unnecessary nesting and boilerplate code.

Non-Compliant

IF lt_items IS NOT INITIAL.
  LOOP AT lt_items INTO DATA(ls_item).
    process_item( ls_item ).
  ENDLOOP.
ENDIF.

Compliant

LOOP AT lt_items INTO DATA(ls_item).
  process_item( ls_item ).
ENDLOOP.

Suppression

To suppress findings for this rule, append the pseudo-comment to the statement:

" Standard pseudo-comment:
... "#EC NO_LOOP_GUARD

" SAP CI_ prefix format:
... "#EC CI_NO_LOOP_GUARD

Related Rules

• Prefer Early Return and CONTINUE Guard Clauses over Nesting — #EC PREF_GUARD_METHOD
• Avoid Empty Control Blocks in Branching and Looping Statements — #EC NO_EMPTY_BLOCK

Technical Details

• Native ATC Class: /SKYL/CL_NO_LOOP_GUARD
• ABAP Implementation: /skyl/cl_no_loop_guard.clas.abap
• Rule Metadata: rules-data.mjs (Line 6014)

Community & Feedback

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