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]

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 will 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 may 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 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
" 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 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 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 attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE         |      ATTRIBUTE VALUE        |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability                 |SUNWcsu                      |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability          |Standard                     |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

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

SunOS 5.10                                                          17 Jul 2002                                                           alias(1)