difference between type and like in sap abap program ?

when you take reference of any variable which is defined Using TYPES or elementry data type  just like ( I , C ,D ,T etc) then we use type.

We use like to take refrence of those Object which occupy memory.

Example:

Types: var1 type C.

data: var2 type var1. ( type is used because var1 is defined with TYPES and it

does not occupy any memory spce)

data: var3 like var2. ( like is used here because var2 is defined with DATA

so it does occupy space in memory ).

data: w_matnr like marc-matnr.  ( like is used here because marc-matnr is stored in memory)

and you Can Say like is  used for database table field  and dataelement.