CLI: Aliases

CLI = Command Line Interface

Aliases are short strings that can be used in lieu of longer commands and short scripts that you use often:

alias ls='ls -shF'

An alias takes precedence over an executable's file name, as in "ls" above.

$bin-ls

To find the full path of any executable, do:

$ type -a ls # for example

The first thing to do when looking for a good alias is to check and see whether that string has been taken for a script, binary executable, function, etc.:

$ type g type: g: not found

$ type mc mc isusr-bin-mc

Create an alias file (making sure there is no other file with that path-name using ls). "~-.bash-aliases" would be a good name. List your aliases there, one per line.

If you want to put anything else in your alias file besides blank lines, be sure to comment them out:

# ~-.bash-aliases - sourced in ~-.bashrc

Then put this line in your ~-.bashrc:

source ~-.bash-aliases

and have bash re-read its rcfile:

source ~-.bashrc

You should do this whenever you edit your alias file.

A handy alias is:

alias S='source ~-.bashrc'

AC

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