The alias command is used to customize the shell environment by generating command-line aliases. Aliases are shorthand for longer expressions. Using aliases, you can create a short string that represents a longer command with various options and arguments. For example, you can create an alias called myls that executes the ‘ls – al’ command.
The Bash shell maintains a list of aliases that you can view by using the alias command by itself. You can also remove aliases using the unalias command. By default, aliases are only maintained for the current shell and for the user that created them. To have them persist, add the appropriate alias command to .bashrc or .bash_aliases, which is called by .bashrc.
Syntax
The syntax of the alias command is:
# alias [alias name[='command with options']
If you encounter the below error while running the alias command:
alias: command not found
you may try installing the below package as per your choice of distribution:
| OS Distribution | Command |
|---|---|
| OS X | brew install bash |
| Debian | apt-get install bash |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install bash |
| Alpine | apk add bash |
| Arch Linux | pacman -S bash |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install bash |
| CentOS | yum install bash |
| Fedora | dnf install bash |
| Raspbian | apt-get install bash |
alias Command Examples
1. List all aliases:
# alias
2. Create a generic alias:
# alias word="command"
3. View the command associated to a given alias:
# alias word
4. Remove an aliased command:
# unalias word
5. Turn `rm` into an interactive command:
# alias rm="rm --interactive"
6. Create `la` as a shortcut for `ls –all`:
# alias la="ls --all"