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)