Disable IntelliJ Starred (Package) Imports?

Question

I'm a migrating Eclipse IDE user and am learning my way round IntelliJ IDEA 9.

By default Eclipse IDE won't use a starred import until you import 99 classes from the same package, so it practically never happens.

But IntelliJ IDEA seems only too keen to do it, and I can't work out how to disable it.

For example, after typing JList then ALT + ENTER to auto-import, the whole javax.swing package is imported instead of just the class I specify.

I tried excluding javax.swing from the auto-completion, but that just stops any Swing classes from being suggested, which is counter-productive.

IntelliJ 9? Version 16 is on the way. Upgrade to the community edition or buy a license. — duffymo, Apr 12 '16 at 12:32

score 366 · Accepted Answer · edited May 11 '16 at 07:01

366

You can set this setting here.

In IDEA 14+ the sequence is:

Settings > Editor > Code Style > Java > Imports > Class count to use import with '*'

In older version of IDEA:

Settings -> Java -> Code Style -> Imports -> Class count to use import with '*'

The feature can not be disabled. You need to set it to a high value, e.g. 99.

In 2016.1.1 version You should also remove the lines under Packages to Use Import with '*', e.g. import javax.*;

edited May 11 '16 at 07:01

CherryDT

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answered Aug 28 '10 at 07:30

Colin Hebert

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Now both `Class count to use import with '*'` and `Names count to use static import with '*'` are set to `99` to copy Eclipse's behavior. Thanks! – Iain Samuel McLean Elder Aug 29 '10 at 13:54
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Seems to work if you set this value to 0, rather than setting to a high number – Alasdair McLeay Dec 07 '16 at 15:01
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Threshold needs to be high for me. If I set that threshold to 0, the feature remains enabled. Worst, I end-up with stars imports everywhere (IDEA 2017.1). – Andrew Jul 17 '17 at 21:41
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0 destroyed me, reverted and set it to 1000 – CodeMonkey Apr 03 '18 at 23:48
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This is language specific, so remember to set this under Kotlin if you're using that or a mixed project. – Steven Benitez Apr 24 '18 at 14:05
In verison 2022.2, you can leave the box empty instead of 99. – uranibaba Aug 28 '22 at 19:35

ROMANIA_engineer · Answer 2 · 2016-02-08T15:26:56.130

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IntelliJ IDEA:

14 & 15 & 16 EAP

File > Settings... > Editor > Code Style > Java > Imports > in General area add a big number for Class count to use import with '*': / Names count to use static import with '*':

IntelliJ IDEA:

12 & 13

File > Settings... > Code Style > Java > Imports > in General area add a big number for Class count to use import with '*':

P.S.: Java is after Code Style in the path.

edited Feb 08 '16 at 15:26

answered Oct 09 '14 at 14:38

ROMANIA_engineer

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Is there really no way to tell Intellij 15 never to use starred imports? I mean without specifying a class count??! – Stephen Hartley Feb 08 '16 at 15:03
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That's what I suspected - but seems odd! – Stephen Hartley Feb 08 '16 at 15:22
This is nutty. I _like_ starred imports. What's the downside again? Really. (Not in some hypothetical situation where there are overlapping names.) – MarkHu Feb 07 '18 at 22:39
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@MarkHu When someone views your code outside the scope of an IDE (e.g. on Github), it becomes really difficult to figure out which package a class is coming from. – Gili Apr 08 '18 at 16:44

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 08 '17 at 16:22

And you also have to remove package names from the "Packages to use import with *" list box just below the "Class count to use import with " text boxes. Swing and AWT are there by default I think. I still was having import javax.swing.; added even though I had the class count set to 999. I used the minus sign button to remove Swing and Awt from the box and then it worked.

Disable IntelliJ Starred (Package) Imports?

3 Answers3