IntelliJ IDEA 2019.3 Help

Intention actions

As you work in the editor, IntelliJ IDEA analyzes your code, searches for ways to optimize it, and detects potential and actual problems.

As soon as the IDE finds a way to alter your code, it displays a yellow bulb icon yellow bulb icon in the editor next to the current line. By clicking this icon, you can view intention actions available for this unit of code. Intention actions cover a wide range of situations from warnings to optimization suggestions. You can view the full list of intentions and customize them in the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S.

A red bulb with an exclamation mark the Quick-fix icon indicates that IntelliJ IDEA has detected a problem, and prompts you to select an associated fix — a quick-fix.

Apply intention actions

  1. Click the light bulb icon (or press Alt+Enter) to open the list of suggestions.

  2. Select an action from the list and press Enter.

    For example, you can use an intention action to inject another language in your code:

    You can use quick-fixes to resolve problems on the fly. For example, if you use a class that you haven't imported yet, you can use the quick-fix to add the missing import statement:

View all intention actions

You can view the full list of available intention actions, and disable actions that you do not need:

  1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, go to Editor | Intentions.

  2. For each intention action, you can see a description and an example. To disable an intention, clear the checkbox next to it.

    Settings of intention actions
  3. Apply the changes and close the dialog.

Disable intention actions on the fly

  1. Click the light bulb icon (or press Alt+Enter) to open the list of suggestions.

  2. Select the action you want to disable, and click the right arrow.

  3. Select Disable <intention action name>.

Last modified: 26 April 2020