Important: This documentation is about an older version. It's relevant only to the release noted, many of the features and functions have been updated or replaced. Please view the current version.

Add variables

Enterprise Open source

Variables types

Grafana uses several types of variables.

Variable type	Description
Query	Query-generated list of values such as metric names, server names, sensor IDs, data centers, and so on. Add a query variable.
Custom	Define the variable options manually using a comma-separated list. Add a custom variable.
Text box	Display a free text input field with an optional default value. Add a text box variable.
Constant	Define a hidden constant. Add a constant variable.
Data source	Quickly change the data source for an entire dashboard. Add a data source variable.
Interval	Interval variables represent time spans. Add an interval variable.
Ad hoc filters	Key/value filters that are automatically added to all metric queries for a data source (InfluxDB, Prometheus, and Elasticsearch only). Add ad hoc filters.
Global variables	Built-in variables that can be used in expressions in the query editor. Refer to Global variables.
Chained variables	Variable queries can contain other variables. Refer to Chained variables.