SAS proc append - variable in wrong format - sas

Question

I have in the table b the ID column in format INTEGER .
I use proc append, but when I check the table database.aw_1234 I have ID in double or float format, how can I fix it?
data a (KEEP = ID ACC_NO PERIOD_DTE);
infile "/root/dirs/files." dlm=";";
ID=_n_;
format ID 8.;
input ACC_NO_VAR PERIOD_DTE $10.;
leading_zeros = 16 - length(ACC_NO_VAR);
cat = repeat('0', leading_zeros);
ACC_NO = catt(cat, ACC_NO_VAR);
run;
DATA b(KEEP = ID ACC_NO PERIOD_DTE);
RETAIN ID ACC_NO PERIOD_DTE;
SET a;
RUN;
proc delete data = database.aw_1234;
proc append BASE=database.aw_1234. FORCE;

Answer 1

SAS only has 2 types, strings and doubles. A format is just instructions for SAS on how to display the variable to the user. So your number was always a double.
If you are creating a table in an RDBMS, you will probably see a note in the log that says something along the lines "SAS Formats are not translated". This means that the RDBMS doesn't really know what a format is, so SAS just writes your double, as a double.
To fix this, create the table in the RDBMS system with the TYPE integer. Then use SAS to delete records from the table and append into that table. Don't delete and recreate the table.
Change your code to something like this:
proc sql noprint;
delete from database.aw_1234;
quit;
proc append base=database.aw_1234 data=b force;
run;