Inserting data into a table

To insert data into a table you use a familiar ANSI SQL statement. A simple example shows you have to accomplish this basic task.

To insert data into a full ACID table, use Hive and store data in Optimized Row Columnar (ORC). To insert data into a non-ACID table or insert-only ACID table, you can use Hive or Impala and store data in other supported formats. You can specify partitioning as shown in the following syntax:

INSERT INTO TABLE tablename [PARTITION (partcol1=val1, partcol2=val2 ...)] VALUES values_row [, values_row...]

where

values_row is (value [, value]).

A value can be NULL or any SQL literal.

Create an ACID table to contain student information.
CREATE TABLE students (name VARCHAR(64), age INT, gpa DECIMAL(3,2));
Insert name, age, and gpa values for a few students into the table.
INSERT INTO TABLE students VALUES ('fred flintstone', 35, 1.28), ('barney rubble', 32, 2.32);

Create a table called pageviews and assign null values to columns you do not want to assign a value.

Hive and Impala example

CREATE TABLE pageviews (userid VARCHAR(64), link STRING, from STRING) PARTITIONED BY (datestamp STRING);

INSERT INTO TABLE pageviews PARTITION (datestamp = '2014-09-23') VALUES ('jsmith', 'mail.com', 'sports.com'), ('jdoe', 'mail.com', null); 
INSERT INTO TABLE pageviews PARTITION (datestamp) VALUES ('tjohnson', 'sports.com', 'finance.com', '2014-09-23'), ('tlee', 'finance.com', null, '2014-09-21');

The ACID data resides in the warehouse. From Hive, a full ACID table results. From Impala, an insert-only ACID table results.