Alias

An alias is a string that stands for a command.

Bash shell

For example you can define "greet" to be an alias for "echo 'hello world'" in the bash shell like this:

# alias greet="echo 'hello world'"
# greet
hello world

csh shell

For example you can define "greet" to be an alias for "echo 'hello world'" in the csh shell like this:

# alias greet "echo 'hello world'"
# greet
hello world

Showing the definition

So you can set an alias using the command alias. With this command you can also show the meaning of a alias:

# alias dir
alias dir='ls -l'

Aliases are similar to shell functions, but you cannot display a function's definition while you can display an aliases' definition.

Setting an alias

To set an alias persistently for all users, all shells (csh, bash, ...) and all type of shells (login shells and non-login shells) you need to

• modify /etc/profile

for logIn shells

• modify /etc/bash.bashrc

for non-login bash shells