---
title: "Key-values format in variables | Grafana Plugins documentation"
description: "Learn how to use key-value pairs in variables to join data sets by IDs while displaying user-friendly names."
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

# Key-values format in variables

A Grafana variable can contain key-value pairs. This makes it possible to join data sets by IDs (key) while displaying user-friendly names (value). The Business Variable panel supports this feature in all modes.

In the following example, screen 1 shows the `city` variable created with three key-value pairs.

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

```text
Chicago:1, New York:2, Tampa:3
```

Screen 2 shows a dashboard view where end users see only city names. After you make a selection (here, New York:2), the variable value becomes 2.

You can then use the `city` variable’s value in queries for other panels, as shown in screen 3.

[](/media/docs/grafana/panels-visualizations/business-variable/key-value.png)