--- aliases: - ../../../reference/templating/ # /docs/grafana/next/reference/templating/ - ../../../variables/advanced-variable-format-options/ # /docs/grafana/next/variables/advanced-variable-format-options/ - ../../../variables/syntax/ # /docs/grafana/next/variables/syntax/ - ../../../dashboards/variables/variable-syntax/ # /docs/grafana/next/dashboards/variables/variable-syntax/ keywords: - grafana - templating - documentation - guide - template - variable labels: products: - cloud - enterprise - oss title: Variable syntax description: Learn about different types of variable syntax weight: 300 --- # Variable syntax Panel titles and metric queries can refer to variables using two different syntaxes: - `$varname` This syntax is easy to read, but it does not allow you to use a variable in the middle of a word. **Example:** apps.frontend.$server.requests.count - `${var_name}` Use this syntax when you want to interpolate a variable in the middle of an expression. - `${var_name:<format>}` This format gives you more control over how Grafana interpolates values. Refer to [Advanced variable format options](#advanced-variable-format-options) for more detail on all the formatting types. - `[[varname]]` Do not use. Deprecated old syntax, will be removed in a future release. Before queries are sent to your data source the query is _interpolated_, meaning the variable is replaced with its current value. During interpolation, the variable value might be _escaped_ in order to conform to the syntax of the query language and where it is used. For example, a variable used in a regex expression in an InfluxDB or Prometheus query will be regex escaped. Read the data source specific documentation topic for details on value escaping during interpolation. For advanced syntax to override data source default formatting, refer to [Advanced variable format options](#advanced-variable-format-options). ## Advanced variable format options The formatting of the variable interpolation depends on the data source, but there are some situations where you might want to change the default formatting. For example, the default for the MySql data source is to join multiple values as comma-separated with quotes: `'server01','server02'`. In some cases, you might want to have a comma-separated string without quotes: `server01,server02`. You can make that happen with advanced variable formatting options listed below. ### General syntax Syntax: `${var_name:option}` Test the formatting options on the [Grafana Play site](https://play.grafana.org/d/cJtIfcWiz/template-variable-formatting-options?orgId=1). If any invalid formatting option is specified, then `glob` is the default/fallback option. An alternative syntax (that might be deprecated in the future) is `[[var_name:option]]`. ### CSV Formats variables with multiple values as a comma-separated string. ```bash servers = ['test1', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers:csv}' Interpolation result: 'test1,test2' ``` ### Distributed - OpenTSDB Formats variables with multiple values in custom format for OpenTSDB. ```bash servers = ['test1', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers:distributed}' Interpolation result: 'test1,servers=test2' ``` ### Doublequote Formats single- and multi-valued variables into a comma-separated string, escapes `"` in each value by `\"` and quotes each value with `"`. ```bash servers = ['test1', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers:doublequote}' Interpolation result: '"test1","test2"' ``` ### Glob - Graphite Formats variables with multiple values into a glob (for Graphite queries). ```bash servers = ['test1', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers:glob}' Interpolation result: '{test1,test2}' ``` ### Join Formats multi-valued variables with a custom delimiter. If no delimiter argument is supplied, they will be combined with `,`. ```bash servers = ["test1", "test2"] String to interpolate: '${servers:join:&}' Interpolation result: "test1&test2" ``` ### JSON Formats variables with multiple values as a comma-separated string. ```bash servers = ['test1', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers:json}' Interpolation result: '["test1", "test2"]' ``` ### Lucene - Elasticsearch Formats variables with multiple values in Lucene format for Elasticsearch. ```bash servers = ['test1', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers:lucene}' Interpolation result: '("test1" OR "test2")' ``` ### Percentencode Formats single and multi valued variables for use in URL parameters. ```bash servers = ['foo()bar BAZ', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers:percentencode}' Interpolation result: 'foo%28%29bar%20BAZ%2Ctest2' ``` ### Pipe Formats variables with multiple values into a pipe-separated string. ```bash servers = ['test1.', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers:pipe}' Interpolation result: 'test1.|test2' ``` ### Query parameters Formats single- and multi-valued variables into their query parameter representation. Example: `var-foo=value1&var-foo=value2` ```bash servers = ["test1", "test2"] String to interpolate: '${servers:queryparam}' Interpolation result: "var-servers=test1&var-servers=test2" ``` Use the `customqueryparam` formatter to customize how the query parameters are formatted. It accepts two optional arguments to specify the parameter name, and a value prefix. ```bash servers = ["test1", "test2"] String to interpolate: '${servers:customqueryparam:v-servers:x-}' Interpolation result: "v-servers=x-test1&v-servers=x-test2" ``` ### Raw Doesn't apply any data source-specific formatting to the variable. For example, in this case, there's a dashboard with a Prometheus data source and a multi-value variable. Grafana typically converts the variable values as follows to accommodate Prometheus: ```bash servers = ['test1.', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers}' Interpolation result: '(test1 | test2)' ``` Using the raw format, the values are returned without that formatting: ```bash servers = ['test1.', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers:raw}' Interpolation result: 'test1,test2' ``` ### Regex Formats variables with multiple values into a regex string. ```bash servers = ['test1.', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers:regex}' Interpolation result: '(test1\.|test2)' ``` ### Singlequote Formats single- and multi-valued variables into a comma-separated string, escapes `'` in each value by `\'` and quotes each value with `'`. ```bash servers = ['test1', 'test2'] String to interpolate: '${servers:singlequote}' Interpolation result: "'test1','test2'" ``` ### Sqlstring Formats single- and multi-valued variables into a comma-separated string, escapes `'` in each value by `''` and quotes each value with `'`. ```bash servers = ["test'1", "test2"] String to interpolate: '${servers:sqlstring}' Interpolation result: "'test''1','test2'" ``` ### Text Formats single- and multi-valued variables into their text representation. For a single variable it will just return the text representation. For multi-valued variables it will return the text representation combined with `+`. ```bash servers = ["test1", "test2"] String to interpolate: '${servers:text}' Interpolation result: "test1 + test2" ```