Abstract
We determine the structure of a p-pure[pure] hull of a p-purifiable [purifiable] subgroup of an arbitrary abelian group. Moreover, we prove that a subgroup A of an abelian group G is purifiable in G if and only if A is p-purifiable in G for every prime p. Using these results, we characterize the groups G for which all subgroups are purifiable in G. Furthermore, we establish several properties of purifiable subgroups.