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
Start typing a name.
Press Control+Space or choose from the main menu.
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.
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 Control+Alt+S and navigate to . 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.
Complete a list of fields for INSERT statements
Complete a list of fields for INSERT statements.
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.
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.
Complete abbreviated statements
Complete names of abbreviated statements. To start completion, use the first letters of words in the name.
Complete names of new objects
Complete names of newly-created objects in a DDL statement (for example, after the ALTER clause).
Generate aliases
Generate aliases for objects. To display the suggestion list, press Control+Space.
To automatically add an alias for a table when you use auto-completion, go to Settings Control+Alt+S and navigate to . 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.
Type-matching completion
Smart type-matching code completion filters the suggestions list and shows only the types applicable to the current context.
Invoke type-matching completion
Start typing a query. By default, DataGrip displays the code completion popup automatically as you type. If automatic completion is disabled, press Control+Shift+Space or choose from the main menu.
Press Control+Shift+Space or choose from the main menu.
The most suitable suggestion for the current context is highlighted.
The following example shows different suggestion lists for basic (Control+Space) and smart type-matching completion Control+Shift+Space.
Type-matching completion Control+Shift+Space | Basic code completion Control+Space |
|---|---|
 |  |
Statement completion
You can create syntactically correct code constructs by using statement completion Control+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.
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.
Expand a string at caret to an existing word
Type the initial string and do one of the following:
Press Alt+/ or choose to search for matching words before the caret.
Press Alt+Shift+/ or choose 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.
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.
Enable and configure postfix completion
In the Settings dialog (Control+Alt+S), open 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.
Press Tab.
You can disable certain postfix completion templates in the Editor | General | Postfix Completion page of the IDE settings Control+Alt+S. DataGrip includes the following predefined templates:
Template | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| SELECT actor.from | SELECT ...
FROM actor |
| SELECT actor.cfrom | SELECT actor_id,
first_name,
last_name,
last_update
FROM actor |
| SELECT actor.afrom | SELECT
actor_id AS ai,
first_name AS fn,
last_name AS ln,
last_update AS lu
FROM actor |
| SELECT actor.cast | SELECT cast(actor AS ...) |
| SELECT actor.join | SELECT * FROM actor
JOIN film_actor fa
ON actor.actor_id = fa.actor_id |
Create custom postfix templates
Press Control+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select .
Click the Add button (
) on the toolbar.Specify Key that is a combination of symbols that will invoke the template.
Select which dialects the new template will be applicable to, and type the target expression in the following format:
$EXPR$ <target_expression>, for example,* FROM $EXPR$;.
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.
Complete tag names
Press < and start typing the tag name. DataGrip displays the list of tag names appropriate in the current context.
Use the Up and Down buttons to scroll through the list.
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
Configure completion options
Press Control+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select .
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 Control+Space for basic completion or Control+Shift+Space for type-matching 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
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.
Completion tips and tricks
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 Control+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 . DataGrip 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. 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 Control+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 Control+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 Quick Information view by pressing Control+Q when you select an entry in the suggestions list:
Troubleshooting
If code completion doesn't work, this may be due to one of the following reasons:
The Power Save Mode is on (). Turning it on minimizes power consumption of your laptop by eliminating the background operations, including error highlighting, on-the-fly inspections, and code completion.
Code completion popup might not appear automatically if it takes too long to gather the completion options. For example, if the computer is busy with another task. In this case, you may still activate the completion popup manually via Ctrl+Space hotkey.