Hive insert query like SQL

Some of the answers here are out of date as of Hive 0.14

https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/Hive/LanguageManual+DML#LanguageManualDML-InsertingvaluesintotablesfromSQL

It is now possible to insert using syntax such as:

CREATE TABLE students (name VARCHAR(64), age INT, gpa DECIMAL(3, 2));INSERT INTO TABLE students  VALUES ('fred flintstone', 35, 1.28), ('barney rubble', 32, 2.32);

You can use the table generating function stack to insert literal values into a table.

First you need a dummy table which contains only one line. You can generate it with the help of limit.

CREATE TABLE one ASSELECT 1 AS oneFROM any_table_in_your_databaseLIMIT 1;

Now you can create a new table with literal values like this:

CREATE TABLE my_table ASSELECT stack(3  , "row1", 1  , "row2", 2  , "row3", 3) AS (column1, column2)FROM one;

The first argument of stack is the number of rows you are generating.

You can also add values to an existing table:

INSERT INTO TABLE my_tableSELECT stack(2  , "row4", 1  , "row5", 2) AS (column1, column2)FROM one;

Slightly better version of the unique2 suggestion is below:

insert overwrite table target_tableselect * from (select stack(    3,                 # generating new table with 3 records    'John', 80,        # record_1    'Bill', 61         # record_2    'Martha', 101      # record_3    ) ) s;

Which does not require the hack with using an already exiting table.