Instructions on how to add an alias for a complicated command

Last updated 2018-06-28 by Adam Lu

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1. Open a terminal

2. Type one of the following commands to edit the file ~/.bash_aliases:

   # Use the vim editor (alias for vi ~/.bash_aliases)
   vi_alias
      
   # Use the nano editor (alias for nano ~/.bash_aliases)
   nano_alias
   

3. Create the alias by adding a line that looks like this:

   alias <alias name>='complicated command'
   

   For example,

   alias store_dotfiles='cd ~/Settings_Linux/scripts; bash store_dotfiles.sh; cd -'
   

4. To refresh your shell session and apply the new alias, type one of the following commands :

   # Source the ~/.bash_aliases file
   source ~/.bash_aliases
      
   # Equivalently, use the custom alias:
   bash_refresh
   

5. To store your new ~/.bash_aliases file, type the custom command alias:

   # store_dotfiles is an alias for 'cd ~/Settings_Linux/scripts; bash store_dotfiles.sh; cd -'
   store_dotfiles
   

   This will store your ~/.bash_aliases file as the file ~/Settings_Linux/sample_dotfiles/sample_DOTbash_aliases_<user>.txt, where <user> is your user name.

6. In the event that your ~/.bash_aliases file is changed (by Adam or anyone else who applied the command alias setup_all_homedirs), you can do one of the following:

   • Restore your settings by typing the following command, where <user> is your user name:

     # setup_dotfiles is an alias for 'bash setup_dotfiles.sh'
     #	and setup_dotfiles.sh is located in /usr/local/bin
     setup_dotfiles <user>
     

   • Compare your new settings with your previously saved settings and edit with vim, where <user> is your user name:

     vimdiff ~/.bash_aliases ~/Settings_Linux/sample_dotfiles/sample_DOTbash_aliases_<user>.txt