Code completion

Invoke basic completion

1. Start typing a name. By default, PhpStorm displays the code completion popup automatically as you type.

   If automatic completion is disabled, press Ctrl+Space or choose Code | Code Completion | Basic from the main menu.

   

2. If necessary, press Ctrl+Space for the second time (or press Ctrl+Alt+Space).

   This shows inaccessible classes and members as well as static fields and methods.

   

Invoke type-matching completion

1. Start typing. By default, PhpStorm displays the code completion popup automatically as you type. If automatic completion is disabled, press Ctrl+Shift+Space or choose Code | Code Completion | Type-Matching from the main menu.

2. Press Ctrl+Shift+Space or choose Code | Code Completion | Type-Matching from the main menu.

   The most suitable suggestion for the current context is highlighted.

   

Expand a string at caret to an existing word

1. Type the initial string and do one of the following:

   • Press Alt+/ or choose Code | Code Completion | Cyclic Expand Word to search for matching words before the caret.

   • Press Alt+Shift+/ or choose Code | Code Completion | Cyclic Expand Word (Backward) to search for matching words after the caret and in other open files.

   The first suggested value appears, and the prototype is highlighted in the source code.

   

2. Accept the suggestion, or hold the Alt key and keep pressing / until the desired word is found.

Enable and configure postfix completion

• Go to Settings / Preferences | Editor | General | Postfix Completion and select the Enable postfix completion checkbox.

• Select Tab, Space, or Enter to be used for expanding postfix templates.

• Enable/disable a particular postfix template for the selected language.

Transform a statement with a postfix

• Type an expression and then type a postfix after a dot, for example, .if:

  function m(arg) { arg.if }

  The initial expression gets wrapped with an if statement:

  function m(arg) { if (arg) { } }

Create custom postfix templates

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Editor | General | Postfix Completion.

2. Click the Add button () on the toolbar.

3. In the popup menu that opens, choose the language that you need to create a postfix template for.

4. Specify Key that is a combination of symbols that will invoke the template.

5. Select which expression types the new template will be applicable to, and type the target expression in the following format: $EXPR$ <target_expression>, for example, $EXPR$ !== null.

   Add $END$ where you want the caret to be placed after the template is applied, for example:

   $EXPR$ !== null; $END$

6. To have PhpStorm automatically transform the topmost applicable expression when the template is invoked, select the Apply to the topmost expression checkbox.

   Otherwise, if the checkbox is cleared, PhpStorm will prompt you to choose the expression when you invoke the template.

   

Enable ML completion

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Editor | General | Code Completion.

2. Under Machine Learning-Assisted Completion, enable the Sort completion suggestions based on machine learning option, and select the languages for which you want to use ML completion.

   

Enable relevance markers

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Editor | General | Code Completion.

2. Enable the following options:

   • Mark position changes in the completion popup: use the and icons to indicate whether the relevance of a suggestion is increasing or decreasing and therefore the suggestion has moved up or down the suggestion list.

   • Mark the most relevant item in the completion popup: use the icon to indicate the most suitable suggestion on the list.

   The suggestion list will look as follows with the icons marking reordered and the most relevant items.

   

Configure completion options

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Editor | General | Code Completion.

2. • To automatically display the suggestions list, select the Show suggestions as you type checkbox. If the checkbox is cleared, you have to call code completion explicitly by pressing Ctrl+Space for basic completion or Ctrl+Shift+Space for type-matching completion.

     You can also choose to automatically insert suggestions when there's just one option: select the completion type under Automatically insert single suggestions for.

   • To sort suggestions in the alphabetical order, instead of sorting them by relevance, select the Sort suggestions alphabetically checkbox.

     You can also toggle these modes by clicking or respectively in the lower-right corner of the suggestions list.

   • If you want the word case to be taken into account when suggesting completion options, select Match case and choose whether you want to match case for first letters only, or for all letters.

   • If you want the documentation popup to be displayed automatically for each item in the suggestions list as you scroll it, select the Show documentation popup in option. In the field to the right, specify the delay (in milliseconds), after which the popup should appear.

1. Open the Select Path dialog by choosing Open File on the File menu or by clicking Browse next to the field where a path is required.

2. Make sure that the Path field is visible. If the field is hidden, click the Show path link.

3. Start typing a path. PhpStorm suggests a list where you can quickly find the needed directory.

   

   As you type, the suggestion list shrinks to show the matching paths only.

   You can also press Ctrl+Space to show the suggestion list.

4. Select the relevant suggestion from the list.

Open completion settings from the completion popup

You can quickly access code completion settings right from the completion popup.

• Click the icon in the completion popup and select Code Completion Settings.

  

After that, the Editor | General | Code Completion page of the IDE settings Ctrl+Alt+S opens.

Narrow down the suggestions list

• You can narrow down the suggestions list by typing any part of a word (even characters from somewhere in the middle) or invoking code completion after a dot separator or ->. PhpStorm will show suggestions that include the characters you've entered in any positions.

  This makes the use of wildcards unnecessary:

  

  In case of CamelCase or snake_case names, type the initial letters only. PhpStorm automatically recognizes and matches the initial letters.

Accept a suggestion

You can accept a suggestion from the list in one of the following ways:

• Press Enter or double-click a list item to insert it to the left of the caret.

• Press Tab to replace the characters to the right from the caret.

• Use Ctrl+Shift+Enter to make the current code construct syntactically correct (balance parentheses, add missing braces and semicolons, and so on).

You can also use specific keys to insert the selected completion suggestion: go to the Editor | General | Code Completion page of the IDE settings Ctrl+Alt+S and select the Insert selected suggestion by pressing space, dot, or other context-dependent keys option. These keys depend on the language, your context, and so on.

View reference

• You can use the Definitions by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I when you select an entry in the suggestions list:

  

• You can use the Quick Information view by pressing Ctrl+Q when you select an entry in the suggestions list:

  

View code hierarchy

You can view code hierarchy when you've selected an entry from the suggestions list:

• Ctrl+H - view type hierarchy

• Ctrl+Alt+H - view call hierarchy.

• Ctrl+Shift+H - view method hierarchy.