INSERT INTO multiple rows in SQL - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ query_result

intermediate

What rows are inserted by this query?

Given the table students with columns id and name, what rows will be inserted by this SQL statement?

SQL

INSERT INTO students (id, name) VALUES (1, 'Alice'), (2, 'Bob'), (3, 'Charlie');

A Two rows: (1, 'Alice'), (2, 'Bob')

B One row: (1, 'Alice') only

C Three rows: (1, 'Alice'), (2, 'Bob'), (3, 'Charlie')

D No rows inserted due to syntax error

💡 Hint

Look at how many sets of values are inside the VALUES clause.

The INSERT statement inserts all rows listed inside the VALUES clause separated by commas. Here, three sets of values mean three rows inserted.

📝 Syntax

intermediate

Which option is a valid syntax for inserting multiple rows?

Choose the correct SQL syntax to insert multiple rows into a table named products with columns product_id and product_name.

A INSERT INTO products (product_id, product_name) VALUES (101, 'Pen'), (102, 'Pencil');

B INSERT INTO products VALUES (101, 'Pen'), (102, 'Pencil');

C INSERT INTO products (product_id, product_name) VALUES (101, 'Pen'); (102, 'Pencil');

D INSERT INTO products (product_id, product_name) VALUES (101, 'Pen' AND 102, 'Pencil');

💡 Hint

Multiple rows are inserted by separating value sets with commas inside one VALUES clause.

Option A correctly uses one VALUES clause with multiple sets separated by commas. Option A misses column names but can be valid only if all columns are provided and in order. Option A wrongly uses two separate VALUES clauses. Option A uses AND incorrectly.

❓ optimization

advanced

Which method is more efficient for inserting 1000 rows?

You want to insert 1000 rows into a table orders. Which SQL approach is generally more efficient?

A Inserting rows one by one inside a loop in application code

B One INSERT statement with 1000 rows in VALUES clause

C Using 10 INSERT statements with 100 rows each

D 1000 separate INSERT statements, one per row

💡 Hint

Fewer statements reduce overhead and improve performance.

One INSERT with many rows reduces communication overhead and is faster than many separate statements or loops.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this multi-row INSERT fail?

Given the table employees with columns id (integer) and name (text), why does this query fail? INSERT INTO employees (id, name) VALUES (1, 'John'), (2);

A Second row has missing value for 'name' column

B Syntax error due to missing comma between rows

C Duplicate id value causes constraint violation

D Table 'employees' does not exist

💡 Hint

Check if each row has the same number of values as columns listed.

Each row in VALUES must have the same number of values as columns specified. The second row has only one value instead of two.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

What happens if you omit column names in multi-row INSERT?

Consider this query: INSERT INTO inventory VALUES (1, 'ItemA'), (2, 'ItemB'); What is true about this statement?

A It inserts only the first row and ignores the second

B It causes syntax error because column names are required

C It inserts rows but sets all unspecified columns to NULL

D It inserts rows assuming values match all columns in table order

💡 Hint

When column names are omitted, values must match all columns in order.

If column names are omitted, SQL expects values for all columns in the exact order defined in the table schema.