Это запрос параметр . Значение не известно во время компиляции - оно определяется во время выполнения с использованием содержимого переменной $ key.
Существуют и другие обозначения для указания параметров:
?NNN A question mark followed by a number NNN holds a spot for the NNN-th
parameter. NNN must be between 1 and SQLITE_MAX_VARIABLE_NUMBER.
? A question mark that is not followed by a number holds a spot for the
next unused parameter.
:AAAA A colon followed by an identifier name holds a spot for a named
parameter with the name AAAA. Named parameters are also numbered. The
number assigned is the next unused number. To avoid confusion, it is
best to avoid mixing named and numbered parameters.
@AAAA An "at" sign works exactly like a colon.
$AAAA A dollar-sign followed by an identifier name also holds a spot for a
named parameter with the name AAAA. The identifier name in this case
can include one or more occurances of "::" and a suffix enclosed in
"(...)" containing any text at all. This syntax is the form of a
variable name in the Tcl programming language. The presence of this
syntax results from the fact that SQLite is really a Tcl extension
that has escaped into the wild.