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)