When creating an alias, for example
alias la="ls -la"
it exists until the terminal session is killed. When starting a new terminal window, the alias does not exist any more. The question is, how to create a "permanent" alias, one that exists in every terminal session?
Such aliases can be stored in the ~/.bash_aliases file.
alias la="ls -la"
it exists until the terminal session is killed. When starting a new terminal window, the alias does not exist any more. The question is, how to create a "permanent" alias, one that exists in every terminal session?
Such aliases can be stored in the ~/.bash_aliases file.
That file is loaded by ~/.bashrc. The following lines need to be uncommented or added to enable the use of the ~/.bash_aliases file:
if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
. ~/.bash_aliases
fi
The aliased command will be available on any new terminal. To have the aliased command on any existing terminal one need to source ~/.bashrc from that terminal:
source ~/.bashrc
A one liner would be:
echo "alias la='ls-la'" >> ~/.bash_aliases && source ~/.bash_aliases
source ~/.bashrc
A one liner would be:
echo "alias la='ls-la'" >> ~/.bash_aliases && source ~/.bash_aliases
Another option would be to add the alias line into ~/.bashrc or into ~/.profile / ~/.bash_profile for remote logins. If the command should be executed for all users, put it into /etc/bash.bashrc.
The function below can be added to the .bashrc file.
function permalias ()
{
alias "$*";
echo alias "$*" >> ~/.bash_aliases
}
Then open a new terminal or run
source ~/.bashrc in your current terminal. You can now create permanent aliases by using the permalias command, for example permalias cls=clear.~/.bashrc is run every time you open a new terminal, whereas ~/.bash_profile is not.
. ~/.bashrc or source ~/.bashrc
Function from askubuntu.com:
# -----------------------------------
# Create a new permanent bash alias
#
# @param $1 - NAME
# @param $2 - DEFINITION
# -----------------------------------
new-alias () {
if [ -z "$1" ]; then
echo "alias name:" && read NAME
else
NAME=$1
fi
if alias $NAME 2 > /dev/null > /dev/null; then
echo "alias $NAME already exists - continue [y/n]?" && read YN
case $YN in
[Yy]* ) echo "okay, let's proceed.";;
[Nn]* ) return;;
* ) echo "invalid response." && return;;
esac
fi
if [ -z "$2" ]; then
echo "alias definition:" && read DEFINITION
else
DEFINITION="$2"
fi
if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
echo "alias $NAME=\"$DEFINITION\"" >> ~/.bash_aliases
else
echo "alias $NAME=\"$DEFINITION\"" >> ~/.bashrc
fi
alias $NAME="$DEFINITION"
}
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