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13 .TH ALIAS 1 "Apr 8, 2008"
14 .SH NAME
15 alias, unalias \- create or remove a pseudonym or shorthand for a command or
16 series of commands
17 .SH SYNOPSIS
18 .LP
19 .nf
20 \fB/usr/bin/alias\fR [\fIalias-name\fR[= \fIstring\fR...]]
21 .fi
23 .LP
24 .nf
25 \fB/usr/bin/unalias\fR \fIalias-name\fR...
26 .fi
28 .LP
29 .nf
30 \fB/usr/bin/unalias\fR \fB-a\fR
31 .fi
33 .SS "\fBcsh\fR"
34 .LP
35 .nf
36 \fBalias\fR [\fIname\fR [\fIdef\fR]]
37 .fi
39 .LP
40 .nf
41 \fBunalias\fR \fIpattern\fR
42 .fi
44 .SS "\fBksh\fR"
45 .LP
46 .nf
47 \fBalias\fR [\fB-tx\fR] [\fIname\fR[= \fIvalue\fR]...]
48 .fi
50 .LP
51 .nf
52 \fBunalias\fR \fIname\fR...
53 .fi
55 .LP
56 .nf
57 \fBunalias\fR [\fB-a\fR]
58 .fi
60 .SS "\fBksh93\fR"
61 .LP
62 .nf
63 \fBalias\fR [\fB-ptx\fR] [\fIname\fR[= \fIvalue\fR]...]
64 .fi
66 .LP
67 .nf
68 \fBunalias\fR [\fB-a\fR] [\fIname\fR...]
69 .fi
71 .SH DESCRIPTION
72 .sp
73 .LP
74 The \fBalias\fR and \fBunalias\fR utilities create or remove a pseudonym or
75 shorthand term for a command or series of commands, with different
76 functionality in the C-shell and Korn shell environments.
77 .SS "\fB/usr/bin/alias\fR"
78 .sp
79 .LP
80 The \fBalias\fR utility creates or redefines alias definitions or writes the
81 values of existing alias definitions to standard output. An alias definition
82 provides a string value that replaces a command name when it is encountered.
83 .sp
84 .LP
85 An alias definition affects the current shell execution environment and the
86 execution environments of the subshells of the current shell. When used as
87 specified by this document, the alias definition does not affect the parent
88 process of the current shell nor any utility environment invoked by the shell.
89 .SS "\fB/usr/bin/unalias\fR"
90 .sp
91 .LP
92 The \fBunalias\fR utility removes the definition for each alias name specified.
93 The aliases are removed from the current shell execution environment. The
94 \fB-a\fR option removes all alias definitions from the current execution
95 environment.
96 .SS "\fBcsh\fR"
97 .sp
98 .LP
99 \fBalias\fR assigns \fIdef\fR to the alias \fIname\fR. The assigned \fIdef\fR
100 is a list of words that can contain escaped history-substitution metasyntax.
101 \fIname\fR is not allowed to be \fBalias\fR or \fBunalias\fR. If \fIdef\fR is
102 omitted, the alias \fIname\fR is displayed along with its current definition.
103 If both \fIname\fR and \fIdef\fR are omitted, all aliases are displayed.
104 .sp
105 .LP
106 Because of implementation restrictions, an alias definition must have been
107 entered on a previous command line before it can be used.
108 .sp
109 .LP
110 \fBunalias\fR discards aliases that match (filename substitution)
111 \fIpattern\fR. All aliases can be removed by `\fBunalias *\fR'.
112 .SS "\fBksh\fR"
113 .sp
114 .LP
115 \fBalias\fR with no arguments prints the list of aliases in the form
116 \fIname=value\fR on standard output. An \fBalias\fR is defined for each name
117 whose \fIvalue\fR is specified. A trailing space in \fIvalue\fR causes the next
118 word to be checked for alias substitution. The \fB-t\fR flag is used to set and
119 list tracked aliases. The value of a tracked alias is the full pathname
120 corresponding to the specified \fIname\fR. The value becomes undefined when the
121 value of \fBPATH\fR is reset but the aliases remained tracked. Without the
122 \fB-t\fR flag, for each \fIname\fR in the argument list for which no
123 \fIvalue\fR is specified, the name and value of the alias is printed. The
124 \fB-x\fR flag is used to set or print \fIexported alias\fRes. An exported alias
125 is defined for scripts invoked by \fIname\fR. The exit status is non-zero if a
126 \fIname\fR is specified, but no value, and no alias has been defined for the
127 \fIname\fR.
128 .sp
129 .LP
130 The \fBalias\fRs specified by the list of \fIname\fRs can be removed from the
131 \fBalias\fR list with \fBunalias\fR.
132 .SS "\fBksh93\fR"
133 .sp
134 .LP
135 \fBalias\fR creates or redefines alias definitions or writes the existing alias
136 definitions to standard output.
137 .sp
138 .LP
139 An alias definition provides a string value that replaces a command name when
140 the command is read. Alias names can contain any printable character that is
141 not special to the shell. If an alias value ends in a SPACE or TAB, the word
142 following the command name the alias replaces is also checked to see whether it
143 is an alias.
144 .sp
145 .LP
146 If no names are specified, the names and values of all aliases are written to
147 standard output. Otherwise, for each name that is specified, and
148 \fB=\fR\fIvalue\fR is not specified, the current value of the alias
149 corresponding to name is written to standard output. If \fB=\fR\fIvalue\fR is
150 specified, the alias name is created or redefined.
151 .sp
152 .LP
153 \fBalias\fR is built-in to the shell as a declaration command so that field
154 splitting and pathname expansion are not performed on the arguments. Tilde
155 expansion occurs on \fIvalue\fR. An alias definition only affects scripts read
156 by the current shell environment. It does not affect scripts run by this shell.
157 .sp
158 .LP
159 \fBunalias\fR removes the definition of each named alias from the current shell
160 execution environment, or all aliases if \fB-a\fR is specified. It does not
161 affect any commands that have already been read and subsequently executed.
162 .SH OPTIONS
163 .sp
164 .LP
165 The following option is supported by \fBunalias\fR:
166 .sp
167 .ne 2
168 .na
169 \fB\fB-a\fR\fR
170 .ad
171 .RS 6n
172 Removes all alias definitions from the current shell execution environment.
173 .RE
175 .SS "\fBksh\fR"
176 .sp
177 .LP
178 The following option is supported by \fBalias\fR:
179 .sp
180 .ne 2
181 .na
182 \fB\fB-t\fR\fR
183 .ad
184 .RS 6n
185 Sets and lists tracked aliases.
186 .RE
188 .SS "\fBksh93\fR"
189 .sp
190 .LP
191 The following options are supported by \fBalias\fR:
192 .sp
193 .ne 2
194 .na
195 \fB\fB-p\fR\fR
196 .ad
197 .RS 6n
198 Causes the output to be in the form of \fBalias\fR commands that can be used as
199 input to the shell to recreate the current aliases.
200 .RE
202 .sp
203 .ne 2
204 .na
205 \fB\fB-t\fR\fR
206 .ad
207 .RS 6n
208 Specifies tracked aliases.
209 .sp
210 Tracked aliases connect a command name to the command's pathname, and are reset
211 when the \fBPATH\fR variable is unset. The tracked aliases feature is now
212 obsolete.
213 .RE
215 .sp
216 .ne 2
217 .na
218 \fB\fB-x\fR\fR
219 .ad
220 .RS 6n
221 Ignored, this option is obsolete.
222 .RE
224 .sp
225 .LP
226 The following option is supported by \fBunalias\fR:
227 .sp
228 .ne 2
229 .na
230 \fB\fB-a\fR\fR
231 .ad
232 .RS 6n
233 Causes all alias definitions to be removed. \fIname\fR operands are optional
234 and ignored if specified.
235 .RE
237 .SH OPERANDS
238 .sp
239 .LP
240 The following operands are supported:
241 .SS "\fBalias\fR"
242 .sp
243 .ne 2
244 .na
245 \fB\fIalias-name\fR\fR
246 .ad
247 .RS 14n
248 Write the alias definition to standard output.
249 .RE
251 .SS "\fBunalias\fR"
252 .sp
253 .ne 2
254 .na
255 \fB\fIalias-name\fR\fR
256 .ad
257 .RS 21n
258 The name of an alias to be removed.
259 .RE
261 .sp
262 .ne 2
263 .na
264 \fB\fIalias-name\fR\fB=\fR\fIstring\fR\fR
265 .ad
266 .RS 21n
267 Assign the value of \fIstring\fR to the alias \fIalias-name\fR.
268 .RE
270 .sp
271 .LP
272 If no operands are specified, all alias definitions are written to standard
273 output.
274 .SH OUTPUT
275 .sp
276 .LP
277 The format for displaying aliases (when no operands or only \fIname\fR operands
278 are specified) is:
279 .sp
280 .in +2
281 .nf
282 "%s=%s\en" \fIname\fR, \fIvalue\fR
283 .fi
284 .in -2
285 .sp
287 .sp
288 .LP
289 The \fIvalue\fR string is written with appropriate quoting so that it is
290 suitable for reinput to the shell.
291 .SH EXAMPLES
292 .LP
293 \fBExample 1 \fRModifying a Command's Output
294 .sp
295 .LP
296 This example specifies that the output of the \fBls\fR utility is columnated
297 and more annotated:
299 .sp
300 .in +2
301 .nf
302 example% \fBalias ls="ls \(miCF"\fR
303 .fi
304 .in -2
305 .sp
307 .LP
308 \fBExample 2 \fRRepeating Previous Entries in the Command History File
309 .sp
310 .LP
311 This example creates a simple "redo" command to repeat previous entries in the
312 command history file:
314 .sp
315 .in +2
316 .nf
317 example% \fBalias r='fc \(mis'\fR
318 .fi
319 .in -2
320 .sp
322 .LP
323 \fBExample 3 \fRSpecifying a Command's Output Options
324 .sp
325 .LP
326 This example provides that the \fBdu\fR utility summarize disk output in units
327 of 1024 bytes:
329 .sp
330 .in +2
331 .nf
332 example% \fBalias du=du \(mik\fR
333 .fi
334 .in -2
335 .sp
337 .LP
338 \fBExample 4 \fRDealing with an Argument That is an Alias Name
339 .sp
340 .LP
341 This example sets up the \fBnohup\fR utility so that it can deal with an
342 argument that is an alias name:
344 .sp
345 .in +2
346 .nf
347 example% \fBalias nohup="nohup "\fR
348 .fi
349 .in -2
350 .sp
352 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
353 .sp
354 .LP
355 See \fBenviron\fR(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
356 that affect the execution of \fBalias\fR and \fBunalias\fR: \fBLANG\fR,
357 \fBLC_ALL\fR, \fBLC_CTYPE\fR, \fBLC_MESSAGES\fR, and \fBNLSPATH\fR.
358 .SH EXIT STATUS
359 .sp
360 .LP
361 The following exit values are returned:
362 .sp
363 .ne 2
364 .na
365 \fB\fB0\fR\fR
366 .ad
367 .RS 5n
368 Successful completion.
369 .RE
371 .SS "\fBalias\fR"
372 .sp
373 .ne 2
374 .na
375 \fB\fB>0\fR\fR
376 .ad
377 .RS 6n
378 One of the \fIalias-name\fR operands specified did not have an alias
379 definition, or an error occurred.
380 .RE
382 .SS "\fBunalias\fR"
383 .sp
384 .ne 2
385 .na
386 \fB\fB>0\fR\fR
387 .ad
388 .RS 6n
389 One of the \fIalias-name\fR operands specified did not represent a valid alias
390 definition, or an error occurred.
391 .RE
393 .SH ATTRIBUTES
394 .sp
395 .LP
396 See \fBattributes\fR(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
397 .SS "\fBcsh, ksh\fR"
398 .sp
400 .sp
401 .TS
402 box;
403 c | c
404 l | l .
405 ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
406 _
407 Interface Stability Committed
408 _
409 Standard See \fBstandards\fR(5).
410 .TE
412 .SS "\fBksh93\fR"
413 .sp
415 .sp
416 .TS
417 box;
418 c | c
419 l | l .
420 ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
421 _
422 Interface Stability Uncommitted
423 .TE
425 .SH SEE ALSO
426 .sp
427 .LP
428 \fBcsh\fR(1), \fBksh\fR(1), \fBksh93\fR(1), \fBshell_builtins\fR(1),
429 \fBattributes\fR(5), \fBenviron\fR(5), \fBstandards\fR(5)