DB2: no SAS labels, formats, lengths

[FK1]

Hi Everyone,

when I run this code in SAS i get the results shown with the given format

data Color;
   input Region Eyes $ Hair $ Count prop @@;
   label Eyes  ='Eye Color'
         Hair  ='Hair Color'
         Region='Geographic Region';
   format prop percent10.2;
   datalines;
1 blue  fair   23 .4   1 blue  red     7  .4    1 blue  medium 24 .4  
1 blue  dark   11 .3   1 green fair   19  .3    1 green red     7 .3  
1 green medium 18 .3   1 green dark   14  .3    1 brown fair   34 .3  
1 brown red     5 .7   1 brown medium 41  .7    1 brown dark   40 .7  
1 brown black   3 .8   2 blue  fair   46  .8    2 blue  red    21 .8  
2 blue  medium 44 .9   2 blue  dark   40  .9    2 blue  black   6 .9  
2 green fair   50 .11  2 green red    31  .11   2 green medium 37 .11 
2 green dark   23 .35  2 brown fair   56  .35   2 brown red    42 .35 
2 brown medium 53 .200 2 brown dark   54  .200  2 brown black  13 .200
;

However, when bulkloading it to a DB2-Table (WORKD is the SAS-libref of a DB2-Schema)

data WORKD.Color   (BULKLOAD=YES BL_METHOD=CLILOAD BL_RECOVERABLE=NO BL_LOAD_REPLACE=yes)   ;
set work.Color;
run; 

I get the following notes in the log:

NOTE: SAS variable labels, formats, and lengths are not written to DBMS tables.
NOTE: There were 27 observations read from the data set WORK.COLOR.
NOTE: The data set WORKD.COLOR has 27 observations and 5 variables.
NOTE:
Results for CLI LOAD operation:
27 rows loaded.
0 rows skipped.
0 rows rejected.
0 rows deleted as duplicates.
27 rows committed.

NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
real time 3.35 seconds
cpu time 0.01 seconds

and consequently, the result looks like this:

It may seem as the dumbest question of all, but I simply want to know:

why can DB2 not handle the labels, formats, lengths???

Cheers,

FK1

[hashman · Accepted solution]

@FK1 :

Labels and formats, the way they exist in SAS, aren't DB2 concepts, and so they are not applied and/or stored in its system tables. 

When you move data to DB2, you accept its rules.

The lengths of the SAS character variables are most likely mimicked by DB2 by creating CHAR(N) type columns of the same lengths as imported from SAS, though it may depend on a number of factors.

How the real binary SAS numbers (system length 😎 are stored in DB2 is up to its discretion. Chances are, they're stored as DECIMAL or REAL data type; but whether they will have the same system lengths as in SAS is no guarantee. But I don't think it's a reason to get disturbed because they are stored with the full precision they come with from SAS.

Kind regards

Paul D.