---
title: "Dashboard URL variables | Grafana documentation"
description: "Use variables in dashboard URLs to add more context to your links"
---

# Dashboard URL variables

Dashboard URL [variables](/docs/grafana/latest/dashboards/variables/) allow you to provide more context when you share a dashboard URL.

For example, you could share a basic URL to your dashboard that looks like this:

![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```none
https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard
```

This allows someone to navigate to the dashboard, but doesn’t provide any helpful context that might be available.

Instead, you can add dashboard variables, passed as query parameters in the dashboard URL, to provide a URL like this:

![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```none
https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard?var-example=value
```

This allows you to provide added context to the dashboard when someone navigates to it.

## Variables as query parameters

Grafana interprets query string parameters prefixed with `var-` as variables in the given dashboard.

For example:

![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```none
https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard?var-example=value
```

In this URL, the query parameter `var-example=value` represents the dashboard variable `example` with a value of `value`.

### Multiple values for a variable

To pass multiple values, repeat the variable parameter once for each value:

![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```none
https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard?var-example=value1&var-example=value2
```

Grafana interprets `var-example=value1&var-example=value2` as the dashboard variable `example` with two values: `value1` and `value2`.

### Example

[This dashboard in Grafana Play](https://play.grafana.org/d/000000074/alerting?var-app=backend&var-server=backend_01&var-server=backend_03&var-interval=1h) passes the variable `server` with multiple values, and the variables `app` and `interval` with a single value each.

## Filters

Filters apply key/value filters to all metric queries that use the specified data source. For more information, refer to [Add filters](/docs/grafana/latest/dashboards/variables/add-template-variables/#add-ad-hoc-filters).

To pass a filter as a query parameter, use the variable syntax to pass the filter variable. Then provide the key, operator, and value as a pipe-separated list.

For example:

![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```none
https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard?var-adhoc=example_key|=|example_value
```

In this URL, the query parameter `var-adhoc=key|=|value` applies the filter configured as the `adhoc` dashboard variable using the `example_key` key, the `=` operator, and the `example_value` value.

> Note
> 
> When sharing URLs with filters, remember to encode the URL. In the preceding example, replace the pipes (`|`) with `%7C` and the equality operator (`=`) with `%3D`.

### Example

[This dashboard in Grafana Play](https://play.grafana.org/d/p-k6QtkGz/template-redux?var-interval=%24__auto&orgId=1&from=now-5m&to=now&timezone=utc&var-query=%24__all&var-query2=%24__all&var-query3=%24__all&var-Filters=job%7C%3D%7Cmetrictank%2Ftsdb-gw&var-textbox=foo&var-custom=lisa&var-datasource=grafanacloud-demoinfra-prom) passes the filter variable `Filters` with the filter value `job = metrictank/tsdb-gw`.

## Time range control using the URL

You can control the time range of a dashboard by providing the following query parameters in the dashboard URL:

- `from` - Defines the lower limit of the time range, specified in ms, epoch, or relative time.
- `to` - Defines the upper limit of the time range, specified in ms, epoch, or relative time.
- `time` and `time.window` - Defines a time range from `time-time.window/2` to `time+time.window/2`. Both parameters should be specified in `ms`. For example `?time=1500000000000&time.window=10000` results in a 10-second time range from 1499999995000 to 1500000005000\`.
- `timezone` - Defines the time zone. For example `timezone=Europe/Madrid`.

Since these aren’t variables, they don’t require the `var-` prefix.

The following example shows a dashboard with the time range of the last five minutes:

![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```none
https://${your-domain}/path/to/your/dashboard?from=now-5m&to=now
```

## Variables in dashboard links

When you create dashboard links the dashboard settings, you can have current dashboard variables included in the link by selecting that option:

[](/media/docs/grafana/dashboards/screenshot-dashboard-link-variables-11.1.png)

For steps to add variables to dashboard links, refer to [Manage dashboard links](/docs/grafana/latest/dashboards/build-dashboards/manage-dashboard-links/).