PhpStorm 2020.3 Help

Intention actions

As you work in the editor, PhpStorm 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 in the current context. 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 PhpStorm has detected a problem, and prompts you to select an associated fix — a quick-fix. Quick-fixes and intention actions together are called context actions.

Apply intention actions

  1. Click the bulb icon (or press Alt+Enter) to open the list of suggestions and select an action from the list.

    For some intention actions, you can open a preview by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I (View | Quick Definition ).

    Intention action preview
  2. Press Enter to apply the selected intention.

    For example, you can use an intention action to initialize all class properties in constructor:

    Initialize class properties intention

    You can use quick-fixes to resolve problems on the fly. For example, for the currently undefined variable, you can create a function parameter or initialize it with a value.

    Intention action

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>.

    Disable intention action
Last modified: 09 March 2021