Two shortcuts to get started

Reduce the learning curve and enhance your productivity in PhpStorm from day one. In this episode, we highlight two essential keyboard shortcuts: Shift+Shift(⇧+⇧) helps you find anything within your project, while Alt+Enter(Option+Enter) provides instant access to contextual actions and quick fixes relevant to the selected code.

Getting started with PHP in PhpStorm
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Understanding PHP

Explore how PhpStorm's robust autocompletion, automatic class importing, error detection capabilities, and navigation shortcuts can streamline your workflow.

Error detection

Learn how to navigate and fix errors using intuitive keyboard shortcuts, scan your entire project for issues, and fine-tune inspection rules to match your coding standards.

Refactoring

Learn how to call the Refactor This menu, preview changes, and apply them, dramatically simplifying tasks that would otherwise be time-consuming and error-prone.

Testing

Learn how to run test suites directly within the IDE, analyze test results, leverage watch mode for automatic reruns, and generate test files effortlessly.

Debugging

Explore how to start a debugging session, set breakpoints, and step over or into code using Xdebug.

Transcript

PhpStorm is a powerhouse. It can do so much for you. However, all that functionality can feel intimidating when you start using it for the first time.

I want to lower PhpStorm’s learning curve as much as possible so that you feel productive with it right away. Lucky for you, you don’t have to understand everything straight away. In fact, you probably only need to learn two keyboard shortcuts in order to get started.

Search Everywhere

The first one involves pressing the Shift key twice, (Shift+Shift), which brings up the Search Everywhere window. Whatever you’re searching for, just start typing. It could be a class name or function name, a variable, or a CSS class – yes, PhpStorm has built-in support for all web technologies from HTML to JavaScript and CSS, including many frameworks.

You can search for string contents, filenames, IDE actions – anything you can think of.

The search bar supports fuzzy search, and you can filter results more specifically by only showing classes, files, symbols, actions, or text.

Actions menu

Speaking of actions, everything that PhpStorm can do for you can be found within this Actions menu. Just start writing to find what you’re looking for. If the action has a keybinding, you’ll see it as well. It’s a great way to discover new features and find out how to use them.

Context Actions menu

The second hotkey we’ll be looking at today is Alt+Enter, or Option+Enter if you’re on Mac: the shortcut to show the Context Actions menu.

You can press Alt+Enter everywhere in your code, and PhpStorm will show you a menu of actions that can be applied at that specific place in your code. For example, Alt+Enter can show and fix problems, it has a bunch of shortcuts for string-related operations, as well as formatting options, and code generation shortcuts – everything that makes sense within the context you’re working in.

Mastering these two shortcuts, Shift+Shift and Alt+Enter, provides a solid foundation for using PhpStorm effectively. Additional features and shortcuts are available, and further learning is encouraged through subsequent videos.