alias(1)
NAME
alias, unalias - create or remove a pseudonym or shorthand
for a command or series of commands
SYNOPSIS
/usr/bin/alias [ alias-name [ = string...]]
/usr/bin/unalias alias-name...
/usr/bin/unalias -a
csh
alias [ name [def]]
unalias pattern
ksh
alias [-tx] [ name [ = value]...]
unalias name...
DESCRIPTION
The alias and unalias utilities create or remove a pseudonym
or shorthand term for a command or series of commands, with
different functionality in the C-shell and Korn shell
environments.
/usr/bin/alias
The alias utility creates or redefines alias definitions or
writes the values of existing alias definitions to standard
output. An alias definition provides a string value that
replaces a command name when it is encountered.
An alias definition affects the current shell execution
environment and the execution environments of the subshells
of the current shell. When used as specified by this docu-
ment, the alias definition will not affect the parent pro-
cess of the current shell nor any utility environment
invoked by the shell.
/usr/bin/unalias
The unalias utility removes the definition for each alias
name specified. The aliases are removed from the current
shell execution environment.
csh
alias assigns def to the alias name. def is a list of words
that may contain escaped history-substitution metasyntax.
name is not allowed to be alias or unalias. If def is omit-
ted, the alias name is displayed along with its current
definition. If both name and def are omitted, all aliases
are displayed.
Because of implementation restrictions, an alias definition
must have been entered on a previous command line before it
can be used.
unalias discards aliases that match (filename substitution)
pattern. All aliases may be removed by `unalias *'.
ksh
alias with no arguments prints the list of aliases in the
form name=value on standard output. An alias is defined for
each name whose value is given. A trailing space in value
causes the next word to be checked for alias substitution.
The -t flag is used to set and list tracked aliases. The
value of a tracked alias is the full pathname corresponding
to the given name. The value becomes undefined when the
value of PATH is reset but the aliases remained tracked.
Without the -t flag, for each name in the argument list for
which no value is given, the name and value of the alias is
printed. The -x flag is used to set or print exported
aliases. An exported alias is defined for scripts invoked
by name. The exit status is non-zero if a name is given,
but no value, and no alias has been defined for the name.
The aliases given by the list of names may be removed from
the alias list with unalias.
OPTIONS
The following option is supported by unalias:
-a Removes all alias definitions from the current shell
execution environment.
ksh
The following option is supported by alias:
-t Sets and lists tracked aliases.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
alias
alias-name
Write the alias definition to standard output.
unalias
alias-name
The name of an alias to be removed.
alias-name=string
Assign the value of string to the alias alias-name.
If no operands are given, all alias definitions will be
written to standard output.
OUTPUT
The format for displaying aliases (when no operands or only
name operands are specified) is:
"%s=%s\n" name, value
The value string will be written with appropriate quoting so
that it is suitable for reinput to the shell.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Modifying a command's output
This example specifies that the output of the ls utility is
columnated and more annotated:
example% alias ls="ls -CF"
Example 2: Repeating previous entries in the command history
file
This example creates a simple "redo" command to repeat pre-
vious entries in the command history file:
example% alias r='fc -s'
Example 3: Specifying a command's output options
This example provides that the du utility summarize disk
output in units of 1024 bytes:
example% alias du=du -k
Example 4: Dealing with an argument that is itself an alias
name
This example sets up the nohup utility so that it can deal
with an argument that is itself an alias name:
example% alias nohup="nohup "
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of alias and unalias:
LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
alias
>0 One of the alias-name operands specified did not have
an alias definition, or an error occurred.
unalias
>0 One of the alias-name operands specified did not
represent a valid alias definition, or an error
occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcsu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Standard |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
csh(1), ksh(1), shell_builtins(1), attributes(5),
environ(5), standards(5)
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