public void processInitFiles(CliSessionState ss) throws IOException, CommandProcessorException {
    boolean saveSilent = ss.getIsSilent();
    ss.setIsSilent(true);
    for (String initFile : ss.initFiles) {
      processFileExitOnFailure(initFile);
    }
    if (ss.initFiles.size() == 0) {
      if (System.getenv("HIVE_HOME") != null) {
        String hivercDefault = System.getenv("HIVE_HOME") + File.separator +
          "bin" + File.separator + HIVERCFILE;
        if (new File(hivercDefault).exists()) {
          processFileExitOnFailure(hivercDefault);
          console.printError("Putting the global hiverc in " +
                             "$HIVE_HOME/bin/.hiverc is deprecated. Please "+
                             "use $HIVE_CONF_DIR/.hiverc instead.");
        }
      }
      if (System.getenv("HIVE_CONF_DIR") != null) {
        String hivercDefault = System.getenv("HIVE_CONF_DIR") + File.separator
          + HIVERCFILE;
        if (new File(hivercDefault).exists()) {
          processFileExitOnFailure(hivercDefault);
        }
      }
      if (System.getProperty("user.home") != null) {
        String hivercUser = System.getProperty("user.home") + File.separator +
          HIVERCFILE;
        if (new File(hivercUser).exists()) {
          processFileExitOnFailure(hivercUser);
        }
      }
    }
    ss.setIsSilent(saveSilent);
  }
Split the line by semicolon by ignoring the ones in the single/double quotes.
cli/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/cli/CliDriver.java