Label Matching

PromQL supports four types of label matchers:

= — Equality. Selects series where the label has exactly the given value.

http_requests_total{status="200"}

!= — Negative equality. Selects series where the label does NOT have the given value.

http_requests_total{status!="500"}

=~ — Regular expression match. Selects series where the label value matches the regex.

http_requests_total{path=~"/api/(foo|bar)"}

!~ — Negative regular expression match. Selects series where the label value does NOT match the regex.

Regular expressions are always fully anchored. They match the entire label value, not just a substring. You do not need ^ or $. To match substrings, use .* on either side:

{__name__=~".*request.*"}