alias(1)							   User Commands							  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...

       unalias [-a]

   ksh93
       alias [-ptx] [name[= value]...]

       unalias [-a] [name...]

DESCRIPTION

       The  alias  and	unalias utilities create or remove a pseudonym or shorthand term for a command or series of commands, with different func-
       tionality 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 document, the alias definition does not affect the parent process of the current shell nor any utility envi-
       ronment 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 environ-
       ment. The -a option removes all alias definitions from the current execution environment.

   csh
       alias assigns def to the alias name. The assigned def is a list of words that can contain escaped history-substitution metasyntax. name	is
       not  allowed to be alias or unalias. If def is omitted, 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 can 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  specified.  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 specified 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
       specified, 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 specified, but no value, and no alias has been defined for the name.

       The aliass specified by the list of names can be removed from the alias list with unalias.

   ksh93
       alias creates or redefines alias definitions or writes the existing alias definitions to standard output.

       An  alias  definition  provides a string value that replaces a command name when the command is read. Alias names can contain any printable
       character that is not special to the shell. If an alias value ends in a SPACE or TAB,  the  word  following  the  command  name	the  alias
       replaces is also checked to see whether it is an alias.

       If  no names are specified, the names and values of all aliases are written to standard output. Otherwise, for each name that is specified,
       and =value is not specified, the current value of the alias corresponding to name is written to standard output. If  =value  is	specified,
       the alias name is created or redefined.

       alias  is built-in to the shell as a declaration command so that field splitting and pathname expansion are not performed on the arguments.
       Tilde expansion occurs on value. An alias definition only affects scripts read by the current shell environment. It does not affect scripts
       run by this shell.

       unalias removes the definition of each named alias from the current shell execution environment, or all aliases if -a is specified. It does
       not affect any commands that have already been read and subsequently executed.

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.

   ksh93
       The following options are supported by alias:

       -p    Causes the output to be in the form of alias commands that can be used as input to the shell to recreate the current aliases.

       -t    Specifies tracked aliases.

	     Tracked aliases connect a command name to the command's pathname, and are reset when the PATH variable is unset. The tracked  aliases
	     feature is now obsolete.

       -x    Ignored, this option is obsolete.

       The following option is supported by unalias:

       -a    Causes all alias definitions to be removed. name operands are optional and ignored if specified.

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 specified, all alias definitions are written to standard output.

OUTPUT

       The format for displaying aliases (when no operands or only name operands are specified) is:

	 "%s=%s
" name, value

       The value string is 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 previous 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 an Alias Name

       This example sets up the nohup utility so that it can deal with an argument that is 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 attributes:

   csh, ksh
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWcsu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Committed 		   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Standard		     |See standards(5). 	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

   ksh93
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWcsu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Uncommitted		   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       csh(1), ksh(1), ksh93(1), shell_builtins(1), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5)

SunOS 5.11							    8 Apr 2008								  alias(1)