phpstorm keeps suggesting something that I never use as first autocomplete option

Hi there,

1) Please try "File | Invalidate Caches..." and restart IDE if you have not tried it yet

2) Try with all custom plugins disabled (those that are not bundled by default)

But in general: if you do that "intv->ctrl-space" and then choose "intval" in completion window 2-3 times .. it should set it as "preferred" option anyway.

Invalidate/restart didn't fix it. I doubt the plugins have something to do with it - I don't use any plugins that would auto complete, except maybe .gitignore, but it only works on .gitignore files.

I forgot to mention that intval returns integer, but I most often use it with string - database query (because it's faster than database's own escape functions):

$id = _GET['id'];

"SELECT * FROM <table> WHERE id = ".intval($id);

>I doubt the plugins have something to do with it - I don't use any plugins that would auto complete, 

I've seen weird things .. so it's always better to ensure that custom-plugin-less setup works properly.

Anything interesting in idea.log BTW (Help | Show Log in...)?

>I forgot to mention that intval returns integer, but I most often use it with string - database query (because it's faster than database's own escape functions):

Better use (int)$id -- it's faster.

But then ... you then instantly convert it to string anyway (because of concatenation)...

If you need safety - better use placeholders and prepared statements -- better/safer than escaping routines.

(int)$id has to be enclosed in another pair of brackets when it's in the middle of the string. And yes it's string->int->string conversion. I really haven't tested the speed, but since I'm using mysql_real_escape and charset is most often utf8 it should be quite slow. And even if its not intval($id) seams nicer to read than $db->escape($id);

Prepared statements are safe, but not as simple to use. For example if you have big query it's not easily readable. I would use prepared statements if  placeholders were named. If you need to put 5 variables in a query and you switch the places of 2 of them you won't really notice. Sometimes I switch the order by just editing the query - change the order of joins. remove something from where clause, add something else, forget to update the variables ... I like to see the query in a sequence.

What happens if you press Ctrl+Space once again for completion? Does list remain the same?

Yes, nothing changes - still second

What sorting do you have there? Could you please attach a similar screenshot?

It's only when I concatenate intval to string. Intval by itself works fine:

May I ask you to reproduce the same situation as on the screenshot, then press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W when the completion window is open and post here an output from the idea.log file. It should look something like this:

selected: func_get_arg
prefix: fun_get
weights:
func_get_arg frozen=true, sorter=1, liftShorter=true, stats=0, proximity=[openedInEditor=false, phpScope=0, phpNamespace=10, phpSameFile=false, sameDirectory=false, sameLogicalRoot=false, sameModule=0, inResolveScope=false, sdkOrLibrary=false]
func_get_args frozen=true, sorter=1, liftShorter=false, stats=0, proximity=[openedInEditor=false, phpScope=0, phpNamespace=10, phpSameFile=false, sameDirectory=false, sameLogicalRoot=false, sameModule=0, inResolveScope=false, sdkOrLibrary=false]

prefix: intv
weights:
intltz_get_tz_data_version frozen=true, sorter=1, middleMatching=false, phpReceiverType=INTERSECTS, prefix=-1043, stats=9056, proximity=[openedInEditor=false, phpScope=0, phpNamespace=10, phpSameFile=false, sameDirectory=false, sameLogicalRoot=false, sameModule=0, inResolveScope=false, sdkOrLibrary=false]
intval frozen=true, sorter=1, middleMatching=false, phpReceiverType=CONVERTIBLE, prefix=-1113, stats=9301, proximity=[openedInEditor=false, phpScope=0, phpNamespace=10, phpSameFile=false, sameDirectory=false, sameLogicalRoot=false, sameModule=0, inResolveScope=false, sdkOrLibrary=false]
intlcal_get_keyword_values_for_locale frozen=true, sorter=1, middleMatching=false, phpReceiverType=CONVERTIBLE, prefix=-1063, stats=0, proximity=[openedInEditor=false, phpScope=0, phpNamespace=10, phpSameFile=false, sameDirectory=false, sameLogicalRoot=false, sameModule=0, inResolveScope=false, sdkOrLibrary=false]
gmp_intval frozen=true, sorter=1, middleMatching=true, phpReceiverType=CONVERTIBLE, prefix=-963, stats=0, proximity=[openedInEditor=false, phpScope=0, phpNamespace=10, phpSameFile=false, sameDirectory=false, sameLogicalRoot=false, sameModule=0, inResolveScope=false, sdkOrLibrary=false]

This keeps happening:

I never used ExampleTag and I don't think I'll ever use in this project. Why is it stuck on top. And why is it "frozen". I clicked it once by mistake and no matter how much I click on "$extension" it doesn't go to the top. 

You'll say that I'm trying to type variable without the $. Well that's the whole point of speeding up the process of typing - not having to use shift. It's the same as trying to access something without capital letter. I start typing and the think I click the most goes to the top - simple. This used to work better few years ago and I'm complaining about it for years and it doesn't get fixed.

STDOUT - weights:
2020-06-10 11:16:22,858 [83321737] INFO - STDOUT - ExampleTag frozen=true, sorter=1, middleMatching=false, liftShorter=false, phpPreferImportedClasses=false, prefix=-1001, phpDispreferNonApplicable=false, phpDispreferNonBundledExtension=false, stats=0, phpDispreferDeprecatedOrInternal=false, proximity=[openedInEditor=true, phpScope=3, phpNamespace=400, phpSameFile=false, sameDirectory=true, sameLogicalRoot=true, sameModule=2, inResolveScope=true, directoryType=3, sdkOrLibrary=false], ml_rank=NONE
2020-06-10 11:16:22,858 [83321737] INFO - STDOUT - extension frozen=true, sorter=1, middleMatching=false, liftShorter=false, phpPreferImportedClasses=true, prefix=-1152, phpDispreferNonApplicable=false, phpDispreferNonBundledExtension=false, stats=10000, phpDispreferDeprecatedOrInternal=false, proximity=[openedInEditor=true, phpScope=3, phpNamespace=400, phpSameFile=false, sameDirectory=true, sameLogicalRoot=true, sameModule=2, inResolveScope=true, directoryType=3, sdkOrLibrary=false], ml_rank=NONE
2020-06-10 11:16:22,859 [83321738] INFO - STDOUT - extension frozen=true, sorter=1, middleMatching=false, liftShorter=false, phpPreferImportedClasses=true, prefix=-1152, phpDispreferNonApplicable=false, phpDispreferNonBundledExtension=false, stats=10000, phpDispreferDeprecatedOrInternal=false, proximity=[openedInEditor=false, phpScope=0, phpNamespace=8, phpSameFile=false, sameDirectory=false, sameLogicalRoot=true, sameModule=2, inResolveScope=true, directoryType=3, sdkOrLibrary=false], ml_rank=NONE
2020-06-10 11:16:22,859 [83321738] INFO - STDOUT - export frozen=true, sorter=1, middleMatching=false, liftShorter=false, phpPreferImportedClasses=true, prefix=-1152, phpDispreferNonApplicable=false, phpDispreferNonBundledExtension=false, stats=9267, phpDispreferDeprecatedOrInternal=false, proximity=[openedInEditor=false, phpScope=0, phpNamespace=8, phpSameFile=false, sameDirectory=false, sameLogicalRoot=true, sameModule=2, inResolveScope=true, directoryType=3, sdkOrLibrary=false], ml_rank=NONE

... cut because there are few screens of text

Please try enabling "Editor | General | Code Completion >  Rank completion suggestions based on Machine Learning" option.
Honestly, I doubt that it will _significantly_ change everything as this is just an experimental feature by now, but I think it worth a shot. 

I activated it. We'll see.

I found out why exactly this class - it went into 'use':

use phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock\Tag\ExampleTag;

But still most of the time I use classes only once or twice per file and variables all the time.