alias - mand or series of commands
/usr/bin/alias [alias-name[= string...]] /usr/bin/unalias alias-name... /usr/bin/unalias -a csh alias [name [def]] unalias pattern ksh88 alias [-tx] [name[= value]...] unalias name... unalias [-a] ksh alias [-ptx] [name[= value]...] unalias [-a] [name...]
alias(1) User Commands alias(1)
NAME
alias, unalias - create or remove a pseudonym or shorthand for a com-
mand 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
ksh88
alias [-tx] [name[= value]...]
unalias name...
unalias [-a]
ksh
alias [-ptx] [name[= value]...]
unalias [-a] [name...]
DESCRIPTION
The alias and unalias utilities create or remove a pseudonym or short-
hand term for a command or series of commands, with different function-
ality 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 defi-
nition 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 environ-
ment invoked by the shell.
/usr/bin/unalias
The unalias utility removes the definition for each alias name speci-
fied. The aliases are removed from the current shell execution environ-
ment. The -a option removes all alias definitions from the current exe-
cution 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 *'.
ksh88
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 cor-
responding 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 speci-
fied, 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 spec-
ified, 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.
ksh
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 correspond-
ing 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.
ksh88
The following option is supported by alias:
-t Sets and lists tracked aliases.
ksh
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 oper-
ands are specified) is:
"%s=%s\n" 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(7) 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(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:
csh, ksh88
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |system/core-os |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Interface Stability |Committed |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Standard |See standards(7). |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
ksh
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |system/core-os |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Interface Stability |Uncommitted |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
csh(1), ksh(1), ksh88(1), shell_builtins(1), attributes(7), environ(7),
standards(7)
Solaris 11.4 8 Apr 2008 alias(1)