Differences between SELECT SINGLE and UP TO 1 ROWS

According to SAP Performance course the SELECT UP TO 1 ROWS is faster than SELECT SINGLE because you are not
using all the primary key fields.
 
select single is a construct designed to read database records with primary key. In the absence of the primary key, it might
end up doing a sequential search, whereas the select up to 1 rows may assume that there is no primary key supplied and
will try to find most suitable index.
 
The best way to find out is through sql trace or runtime analysis.
 
Use "select up to 1 rows" only if you are sure that all the records returned will have the same value for the field(s) you are
interested in. If not, you will be reading only the first record which matches the criteria, but may be the second or the third
record has the value you are looking for.
 
The System test result showed that the variant Single * takes less time than Up to 1 rows as there is an additional level for
COUNT STOP KEY for SELECT ENDSELECT UP TO 1 ROWS.
 
The 'SELECT SINGLE' statement selects the first row in the database that it finds that fulfils the 'WHERE' clause If this
results in multiple records then only the first one will be returned and therefore may not be unique.

Mainly:  to read data from

The 'SELECT .... UP TO 1 ROWS' statement is subtly different. The database selects all of the relevant records that are
defined by the WHERE clause, applies any aggregate, ordering or grouping functions to them and then returns the first
record of the result set.

Mainly: to check if entries exist.