# Work with Map values

A Map stores ordered key/value pairs with declared key and value types. This quickstart stores text labels for one account.

## Create and insert a map

```sql
CREATE TABLE labels(id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, tags Map(String, String));
INSERT INTO labels VALUES (1, map('team', 'sales', 'region', 'east'));
```

`map` takes alternating keys and values. A typed Map validates every pair. Keys cannot be NULL; duplicate keys are retained.

## Read values and test presence

```sql
SELECT map_element(tags, 'team') AS team,
       map_contains(tags, 'missing') AS has_missing,
       map_element(tags, 'missing') AS missing_value
FROM labels
FORMAT csv;
```

```text
"sales",false,""
```

A missing key returns the value type's default, an empty string here. `map_contains` distinguishes a missing key from a stored empty value. If a key is repeated, `map_element` returns its first matching value.

## Replace a map

```sql
UPDATE labels
SET tags = map('team', 'support', 'region', 'west')
WHERE id = 1;
```

```sql
SELECT map_element(tags, 'team'), map_keys(tags)
FROM labels
FORMAT csv;
```

```text
"support","[""team"",""region""]"
```

See the [Map reference](https://coordinatordb.com/docs/reference/data-types/map) and [map functions](https://coordinatordb.com/docs/reference/functions/regular-functions/tuple-map-functions) for additional operations.