DataGrip 2019.3 Help

Code completion

This section covers various techniques of context-aware code completion that allow you to speed up your coding process.

Basic completion

Basic code completion helps you complete statements, database object names, parameters, and keywords within the visibility scope. When you invoke code completion, DataGrip analyses the context and suggests the choices that are reachable from the current caret position (suggestions also include Live templates).

Invoke basic completion

  1. Start typing a name.

  2. Press Ctrl+Space or choose Code | Completion | Basic from the main menu.

    Basic completion

Consider the following list of actions that you can perform with basic code completion:

Complete a list of fields for SELECT statements

Complete a list of fields for SELECT statements.

Example of the SELECT statement completion

Complete JOIN statements by using a foreign key

Complete the JOIN statement if tables are connected with a foreign key. To invert an order of operands in the JOIN condition, open Settings | Preferences Ctrl+Alt+S and navigate to Editor | General | Code Completion. In the SQL section, select the Invert order of operands in auto-generated ON clause checkbox. Compare an order of operands on the following screenshot with this option on and off.

Example of the JOIN statement completion

Complete a list of fields for INSERT statements

Complete a list of fields for INSERT statements.

Example of the INSERT statement completion

Completion for window functions

When you use a window function, DataGrip automatically adds OVER() and puts the caret into the appropriate place.

Complete a list of fields for GROUP BY statements

Complete a list of fields for GROUP BY statements.

Example of the INSERT statement completion

Complete abbreviated names

Complete names of database objects that are written in camelCase, hyphenated-object-names, or names_with_underscore. To start completion, use the first letters of words in the name.

Example of completion for abbreviated names

Complete abbreviated statements

Complete names of abbreviated statements. To start completion, use the first letters of words in the name.

Example of completion for abbreviated names

Complete names of new objects

Complete names of newly-created objects in a DDL statement (for example, after the ALTER clause).

Example of the ALTER statement completion

Generate aliases

Generate aliases for objects. To display the suggestion list, press Ctrl+Space.

To automatically add an alias for a table when you use auto-completion, go to Settings | Preferences Ctrl+Alt+S and navigate to Editor | General | Code Completion. In the SQL section, select the Automatically add aliases when completing table names checkbox. After that, each time you autocomplete a table name, DataGrip will generate an alias for the table.

If you want to set your own aliases for database objects, click the Add alias icon in the Custom aliases table. Type the object name in the Table name column and the desired alias in the Alias column.

Generate aliases

Smart completion

Smart code completion filters the suggestions list and shows only the types applicable to the current context.

Invoke smart completion

  1. Start typing a query.

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

    The most suitable suggestion for the current context is highlighted.

The following example shows different suggestion lists for basic (Ctrl+Space) and smart completion Ctrl+Shift+Space.

Ctrl+Shift+SpaceCtrl+Space
Smart and basic completion
Smart and basic completion

Statement completion

You can create syntactically correct code constructs by using statement completion Ctrl+Shift+Enter. It inserts the necessary syntax elements (parentheses, braces, and semicolons) and gets you in a position where you can start typing the next statement.

Statement completion

Hippie completion

Hippie completion is a completion engine that analyses your text in the visible scope and generates suggestions from the current context. It helps you complete any word from any of the currently opened files.

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

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

    • Press Shift+Alt+/ or choose 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.

The following example shows hippie completion for the value in the INSERT statement:

Postfix code completion

Postfix code completion helps you reduce backward caret jumps as you write code. You can transform an already-typed expression to a different one based on a postfix you type after the dot, the type of expression, and its context.

  • To view a full list of available postfix templates, in the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, go to Editor | General | Postfix Completion.

  • Select Tab, Space, or Enter to expand postfix templates.

Transform a statement with a postfix

  1. Type an expression and then type a postfix after a dot.

  2. Press Tab.

To disable certain postfix completion templates, in the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S select Editor | General | Postfix Completion. DataGrip includes the following predefined templates:

Template

Before

After

.from
SELECT actor.from
SELECT ... FROM actor
.cfrom
SELECT actor.cfrom
SELECT actor_id, first_name, last_name, last_update FROM actor
.afrom
SELECT actor.afrom
SELECT actor_id AS ai, first_name AS fn, last_name AS ln, last_update AS lu FROM actor
.cast
SELECT actor.cast
SELECT cast(actor AS ...)
.join
SELECT actor.join
SELECT * FROM actor JOIN film_actor fa ON actor.actor_id = fa.actor_id

Completion of tags and attributes

DataGrip automatically completes names and values of tags and attributes in HTML/XHTML, XML/XSL, and JSON.

Completion of tags and attribute names is based on the DTD or Schema the file is associated with. If there is no schema association, DataGrip will use the file content (tag and attribute names and their values) to complete your input.

  1. Press < and start typing the tag name. DataGrip displays the list of tag names appropriate in the current context.

    Tags complation
    Use the Up and Down buttons to scroll through the list.

  2. Press Enter to accept a selection from the list. If your file is associated with a schema or a DTD, DataGrip automatically inserts the mandatory attributes according to it.

Configure code completion settings

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  1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, select Editor | General | Code Completion.

    • 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 smart completion.

    • 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 the Sort Alphabetically button or the Sort by Relevance button 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.

Completion tips and tricks

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. DataGrip will show suggestions that include the characters you've entered in any positions.

This makes the use of wildcards unnecessary:

codeCompletionWildcard.png

In case of CamelCase or snake_case names, type the initial letters only. DataGrip 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: in the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S choose Editor | General | Code Completion 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 Quick Information View by pressing Ctrl+Q when you select an entry in the suggestions list:

    Quick documentation

Last modified: 13 April 2020