Insert multiple rows of data in a single SQL statement [duplicate]

Question

I have multiple set of data to insert at once

INSERT INTO MyTable VALUES ("John", "Doe", 1234567890, "employee", "");
INSERT INTO MyTable VALUES ("Susen", "Gupta", 1234567890, "leander");
INSERT INTO MyTable VALUES ("Karn", "Share", 1234567890, "employee", "home");

I want to insert multiple rows in a single SQL statement. And can it possible to do it with different number of values.

Answer 1

Multi-row insert has been part of the SQL standard since SQL-92, and many of the modern DBMS' support it. That would allow you to do something like:

insert into MyTable ( Name,     Id,   Location)
             values ('John',    123, 'Lloyds Office'),
                    ('Jane',    124, 'Lloyds Office'),
                    ('Billy',   125, 'London Office'),
                    ('Miranda', 126, 'Bristol Office');

You'll notice I'm using the full form of insert into there, listing the columns to use. I prefer that since it makes you immune from whatever order the columns default to.

If your particular DBMS does not support it, you could do it as part of a transaction which depends on the DBMS but basically looks like:

begin transaction;
insert into MyTable (Name,Id,Location) values ('John',123,'Lloyds Office');
insert into MyTable (Name,Id,Location) values ('Jane',124,'Lloyds Office'),
insert into MyTable (Name,Id,Location) values ('Billy',125,'London Office'),
insert into MyTable (Name,Id,Location) values ('Miranda',126,'Bristol Office');
commit transaction;

This makes the operation atomic, either inserting all values or inserting none.

Answer 2

Yes you can, but it depends on the SQL taste that you are using :) , for example in mysql, and sqlserver:

INSERT INTO Table ( col1, col2 ) VALUES
( val1_1, val1_2 ), ( val2_1, val2_2 ), ( val3_1, val3_2 );

But in oracle:

INSERT ALL
   INTO Table (col1, col2, col3) VALUES ('val1_1', 'val1_2', 'val1_3')
   INTO Table (col1, col2, col3) VALUES ('val2_1', 'val2_2', 'val2_3')
   INTO Table (col1, col2, col3) VALUES ('val3_1', 'val3_2', 'val3_3')
   .
   .
   .
SELECT 1 FROM DUAL;