diff --git a/public/app/features/variables/query/reducer.test.ts b/public/app/features/variables/query/reducer.test.ts
index 73efcf43cf0..fd061ddba3c 100644
--- a/public/app/features/variables/query/reducer.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/variables/query/reducer.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { reducerTester } from '../../../../test/core/redux/reducerTester';
 import {
-  getAllMatches,
+  metricNamesToVariableValues,
   queryVariableReducer,
   sortVariableValues,
   updateVariableOptions,
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import { VariablesState } from '../state/variablesReducer';
 import { getVariableTestContext } from '../state/helpers';
 import { toVariablePayload } from '../state/types';
 import { createQueryVariableAdapter } from './adapter';
-import { MetricFindValue, stringToJsRegex } from '@grafana/data';
+import { MetricFindValue } from '@grafana/data';
 
 describe('queryVariableReducer', () => {
   const adapter = createQueryVariableAdapter();
@@ -307,37 +307,79 @@ describe('sortVariableValues', () => {
   });
 });
 
-describe('getAllMatches', () => {
-  it.each`
-    str                                          | regex               | expected
-    ${'A{somelabel="atext",somevalue="avalue"}'} | ${'/unknown/gi'}    | ${{}}
-    ${'A{somelabel="atext",somevalue="avalue"}'} | ${'/unknown/i'}     | ${{}}
-    ${'A{somelabel="atext",somevalue="avalue"}'} | ${'/some(\\w+)/gi'} | ${{ 0: 'somevalue', 1: 'value', index: 20, input: 'A{somelabel="atext",somevalue="avalue"}' }}
-    ${'A{somelabel="atext",somevalue="avalue"}'} | ${'/some(\\w+)/i'}  | ${{ 0: 'somelabel', 1: 'label', index: 2, input: 'A{somelabel="atext",somevalue="avalue"}' }}
-    ${'A{somelabel="atext",somevalue="avalue"}'} | ${'/somevalue="(?<value>[^"]+)|somelabel="(?<text>[^"]+)/gi'} | ${{
-  0: 'somevalue="avalue',
-  1: 'avalue',
-  2: 'atext',
-  groups: {
-    text: 'atext',
-    value: 'avalue',
-  },
-  index: 20,
-  input: 'A{somelabel="atext",somevalue="avalue"}',
-}}
-    ${'A{somelabel="atext",somevalue="avalue"}'} | ${'/somevalue="(?<value>[^"]+)|somelabel="(?<text>[^"]+)/i'} | ${{
-  0: 'somelabel="atext',
-  1: undefined,
-  2: 'atext',
-  groups: {
-    text: 'atext',
-  },
-  index: 2,
-  input: 'A{somelabel="atext",somevalue="avalue"}',
-}}
-  `('when called with str:{$str}, regex:{$regex} then it should return correct matches', ({ str, regex, expected }) => {
-    const result = getAllMatches(str, stringToJsRegex(regex));
+describe('metricNamesToVariableValues', () => {
+  const item = (str: string) => ({ text: str, value: str, selected: false });
+  const metricsNames = [
+    item('go_info{instance="demo.robustperception.io:9090",job="prometheus",version="go1.15.6"} 1 1613047998000'),
+    item('go_info{instance="demo.robustperception.io:9091",job="pushgateway",version="go1.15.6"} 1 1613047998000'),
+    item('go_info{instance="demo.robustperception.io:9093",job="alertmanager",version="go1.14.4"} 1 1613047998000'),
+    item('go_info{instance="demo.robustperception.io:9100",job="node",version="go1.14.4"} 1 1613047998000'),
+  ];
+
+  const expected1 = [
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9090', text: 'demo.robustperception.io:9090', selected: false },
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9091', text: 'demo.robustperception.io:9091', selected: false },
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9093', text: 'demo.robustperception.io:9093', selected: false },
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9100', text: 'demo.robustperception.io:9100', selected: false },
+  ];
+
+  const expected2 = [
+    { value: 'prometheus', text: 'prometheus', selected: false },
+    { value: 'pushgateway', text: 'pushgateway', selected: false },
+    { value: 'alertmanager', text: 'alertmanager', selected: false },
+    { value: 'node', text: 'node', selected: false },
+  ];
 
+  const expected3 = [
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9090', text: 'prometheus', selected: false },
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9091', text: 'pushgateway', selected: false },
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9093', text: 'alertmanager', selected: false },
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9100', text: 'node', selected: false },
+  ];
+
+  const expected4 = [
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9090', text: 'demo.robustperception.io:9090', selected: false },
+    { value: undefined, text: undefined, selected: false },
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9091', text: 'demo.robustperception.io:9091', selected: false },
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9093', text: 'demo.robustperception.io:9093', selected: false },
+    { value: 'demo.robustperception.io:9100', text: 'demo.robustperception.io:9100', selected: false },
+  ];
+
+  it.each`
+    variableRegEx                                          | expected
+    ${''}                                                  | ${metricsNames}
+    ${'/unknown/'}                                         | ${[]}
+    ${'/unknown/g'}                                        | ${[]}
+    ${'/go/'}                                              | ${metricsNames}
+    ${'/go/g'}                                             | ${metricsNames}
+    ${'/(go)/'}                                            | ${[{ value: 'go', text: 'go', selected: false }]}
+    ${'/(go)/g'}                                           | ${[{ value: 'go', text: 'go', selected: false }]}
+    ${'/(go)?/'}                                           | ${[{ value: 'go', text: 'go', selected: false }]}
+    ${'/(go)?/g'}                                          | ${[{ value: 'go', text: 'go', selected: false }, { value: undefined, text: undefined, selected: false }]}
+    ${'/go(\\w+)/'}                                        | ${[{ value: '_info', text: '_info', selected: false }]}
+    ${'/go(\\w+)/g'}                                       | ${[{ value: '_info', text: '_info', selected: false }, { value: '1', text: '1', selected: false }]}
+    ${'/.*_(\\w+)\\{/'}                                    | ${[{ value: 'info', text: 'info', selected: false }]}
+    ${'/.*_(\\w+)\\{/g'}                                   | ${[{ value: 'info', text: 'info', selected: false }]}
+    ${'/instance="(?<value>[^"]+)/'}                       | ${expected1}
+    ${'/instance="(?<value>[^"]+)/g'}                      | ${expected1}
+    ${'/instance="(?<grp1>[^"]+)/'}                        | ${expected1}
+    ${'/instance="(?<grp1>[^"]+)/g'}                       | ${expected1}
+    ${'/instancee="(?<value>[^"]+)/'}                      | ${[]}
+    ${'/job="(?<text>[^"]+)/'}                             | ${expected2}
+    ${'/job="(?<text>[^"]+)/g'}                            | ${expected2}
+    ${'/job="(?<grp2>[^"]+)/'}                             | ${expected2}
+    ${'/job="(?<grp2>[^"]+)/g'}                            | ${expected2}
+    ${'/jobb="(?<text>[^"]+)/g'}                           | ${[]}
+    ${'/instance="(?<value>[^"]+)|job="(?<text>[^"]+)/'}   | ${expected1}
+    ${'/instance="(?<value>[^"]+)|job="(?<text>[^"]+)/g'}  | ${expected3}
+    ${'/instance="(?<grp1>[^"]+)|job="(?<grp2>[^"]+)/'}    | ${expected1}
+    ${'/instance="(?<grp1>[^"]+)|job="(?<grp2>[^"]+)/g'}   | ${expected4}
+    ${'/instance="(?<value>[^"]+).*job="(?<text>[^"]+)/'}  | ${expected3}
+    ${'/instance="(?<value>[^"]+).*job="(?<text>[^"]+)/g'} | ${expected3}
+    ${'/instance="(?<grp1>[^"]+).*job="(?<grp2>[^"]+)/'}   | ${expected1}
+    ${'/instance="(?<grp1>[^"]+).*job="(?<grp2>[^"]+)/g'}  | ${expected1}
+  `('when called with variableRegEx:$variableRegEx then it return correct options', ({ variableRegEx, expected }) => {
+    const result = metricNamesToVariableValues(variableRegEx, VariableSort.disabled, metricsNames);
     expect(result).toEqual(expected);
   });
 });
diff --git a/public/app/features/variables/query/reducer.ts b/public/app/features/variables/query/reducer.ts
index 4513e7e6d78..ac3c1d21116 100644
--- a/public/app/features/variables/query/reducer.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/variables/query/reducer.ts
@@ -88,30 +88,33 @@ export const sortVariableValues = (options: any[], sortOrder: VariableSort) => {
   return options;
 };
 
-export const getAllMatches = (str: string, regex: RegExp): any => {
-  const results = {};
-  let matches;
+const getAllMatches = (str: string, regex: RegExp): RegExpExecArray[] => {
+  const results: RegExpExecArray[] = [];
+  let matches = null;
+
+  regex.lastIndex = 0;
 
   do {
     matches = regex.exec(str);
-    _.merge(results, matches);
-  } while (regex.global && matches);
+    if (matches) {
+      results.push(matches);
+    }
+  } while (regex.global && matches && matches[0] !== '' && matches[0] !== undefined);
 
   return results;
 };
 
-const metricNamesToVariableValues = (variableRegEx: string, sort: VariableSort, metricNames: any[]) => {
-  let regex, i, matches;
+export const metricNamesToVariableValues = (variableRegEx: string, sort: VariableSort, metricNames: any[]) => {
+  let regex;
   let options: VariableOption[] = [];
 
   if (variableRegEx) {
     regex = stringToJsRegex(variableRegEx);
   }
 
-  for (i = 0; i < metricNames.length; i++) {
+  for (let i = 0; i < metricNames.length; i++) {
     const item = metricNames[i];
     let text = item.text === undefined || item.text === null ? item.value : item.text;
-
     let value = item.value === undefined || item.value === null ? item.text : item.value;
 
     if (_.isNumber(value)) {
@@ -123,24 +126,28 @@ const metricNamesToVariableValues = (variableRegEx: string, sort: VariableSort,
     }
 
     if (regex) {
-      matches = getAllMatches(value, regex);
-
-      if (_.isEmpty(matches)) {
+      const matches = getAllMatches(value, regex);
+      if (!matches.length) {
         continue;
       }
 
-      if (matches.groups && matches.groups.value && matches.groups.text) {
-        value = matches.groups.value;
-        text = matches.groups.text;
-      } else if (matches.groups && matches.groups.value) {
-        value = matches.groups.value;
-        text = value;
-      } else if (matches.groups && matches.groups.text) {
-        text = matches.groups.text;
-        value = text;
-      } else if (matches['1']) {
-        text = matches['1'];
-        value = matches['1'];
+      const valueGroup = matches.find((m) => m.groups && m.groups.value);
+      const textGroup = matches.find((m) => m.groups && m.groups.text);
+      const firstMatch = matches.find((m) => m.length > 1);
+      const manyMatches = matches.length > 1 && firstMatch;
+
+      if (valueGroup || textGroup) {
+        value = valueGroup?.groups?.value ?? textGroup?.groups?.text;
+        text = textGroup?.groups?.text ?? valueGroup?.groups?.value;
+      } else if (manyMatches) {
+        for (let j = 0; j < matches.length; j++) {
+          const match = matches[j];
+          options.push({ text: match[1], value: match[1], selected: false });
+        }
+        continue;
+      } else if (firstMatch) {
+        text = firstMatch[1];
+        value = firstMatch[1];
       }
     }