I'm getting an error in SQL command not properly ended

Question

when I enter this

INSERT INTO works_on
(essn, pno, hours)
values
('123456789', 1, 32.5),
('123456789', 2, 7.5),
('666884444', 3, 40.0),
('453453453', 1, 20.0),
('453453453', 2, 20.0),
('333445555', 2, 10.0),
('333445555', 3, 10.0),
('333445555', 10, 10.0),
('333445555', 20, 10.0),
('999887777', 30, 30.0),
('999887777', 10, 10.0),
('987987987', 10, 35.0),
('987987987', 30, 5.0),
('987654321', 30, 20.0),
('987654321', 20, 15.0),
('888665555', 20, 0);

I get the follow error

ORA-00933: SQL command not properly ended

Answer 1

In Oracle, you can't specify multiple sets of values like this (I'm guessing that you're coming from a MySQL background where that syntax is allowed). The simplest approach is to generate multiple INSERT statements

INSERT INTO works_on
(essn, pno, hours)
values
('123456789', 1, 32.5);

INSERT INTO works_on
(essn, pno, hours)
values
('123456789', 2, 7.5);

INSERT INTO works_on
(essn, pno, hours)
values
('666884444', 3, 40.0);

...

You can also insert multiple rows using a single INSERT ALL statement

INSERT ALL
  INTO works_on(essn, pno, hours) values('123456789', 1, 32.5)
  INTO works_on(essn, pno, hours) values('123456789', 2, 7.5)
  INTO works_on(essn, pno, hours) values('666884444', 3, 40.0)
  INTO works_on(essn, pno, hours) values('453453453', 1, 20.0)
  INTO works_on(essn, pno, hours) values('453453453', 2, 20.0)
  INTO works_on(essn, pno, hours) values('333445555', 2, 10.0)
  INTO works_on(essn, pno, hours) values('333445555', 3, 10.0)
  ...
SELECT *
  FROM dual;