Bash alias expansion

[joesmoe10]

Hey, I want to alias long directory paths that I use frequently.

So in my ~/.bash_aliases I have something like this

alias longpath='~/really/long/path'

Then I want to be able to use this alias with commands like cd or mv but the alias doesn't get expanded and bash spits out an error

cd longpath
bash: cd: longpath: No such file or directory

How can I get bash to expand the aliases I make?

[kailden]

I do alias longpath='cd ~/really/long/path'
and then just type longpath instead of cd at the shellprompt.
YMMV.

You could also do an export LONGPATH="/home/kailden/really/long/path"
and do a cd $LONGPATH at the shellprompt, but I think then that anything like the ~ character won't get expanded...

[Reiger]

No but IIRC the tilde (~) can be replaced with $HOME ...

[joesmoe10]

I used to include the cd in the alias like so

alias longpath='cd ~/really/long/path'

but then you can't use it for other commands like this

mv file longpath

[mssever]

You could use a bash function. Here's a start, but it's missing something. It strips out the first directory of genuine directories. Perhaps someone can spot what I'm missing.

function cd {
local target="$1"

local longpath1=/some/long/path
local longpath2=/some/other/path

local cmd="$(eval echo "\"\$$target\"")"
[[ $cmd =~ ^\$ ]] && cmd="${cmd:1}"
if [ -z "$cmd" ]; then
builtin cd "$cmd"
else
builtin cd "$cmd"
fi
return $?
}

[jinksys]

You are confusing aliases with variables.

Aliases are essentially commands.

For example:



alias corndog='mkdir delicious'

$> corndog <--- this will be subsituted with mkdir delicious



You want variables...



gohome="cd $HOME/"

$> $gohome <--- will be substituted for /home/username/

$/home/wally> _


Once you've crafted the variable you need, you can put it in your ~/.bashrc config file and it'll be saved for future bash sessions.



Make sure you export it:

export MYVAR="whatever it does"



Bash programming Howtos:

Beginner: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prog-Intro-HOWTO.html
Advanced: http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/

[joesmoe10]

I think I found the problem from the man pages for alias

"aliases allow a string to be substituted for a word when it is used as the first word of a simple command"

Anyway, thanks for the help

[K7522]

I'm glad you found your issue joesmoe10, as for me... I just found out how to go to my /really/long/stupidly/crazy/boring with spaces/hArd/to TYpE/places.

Thank you all!

[mssever]

I'm glad you found your issue joesmoe10, as for me... I just found out how to go to my /really/long/stupidly/crazy/boring with spaces/hArd/to TYpE/places.

Thank you all!
I assume that you know about tab completion. I tend to use long filenames, with plenty of spaces and other special characters. Since I use tab completion, I rarely have to actually type those names in full.

[dtmilano]

CDPATH bash environement variable would also be helpful in some cases. Check 'man bash'.