Linux

65325 readers

637 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 7 years ago

MODERATORS

AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml

nooter692@lemmy.ml

MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml

cypherpunks@lemmy.ml

cyclohexane@lemmy.ml

d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz

Using alias of path in commands? (piefed.social)

submitted 17 hours ago by MolochHorridus@piefed.social to c/linux@lemmy.ml

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

This is probably a very simple thing but I can’t find an answer, possibly because I don’t know what terms to use in search.

How do I use an alias of a path with mv or cp? Or even cd?

In /etc/bash.bashrc I have: alias docs=‘/media/docs

cd docs Gives “No such file or directory”

Yet: docs Gives “Is directory”

With alias docs=‘cd /media/docs’ and by typing docs I get into the directory. Obviously I can’t use that alias with mv or cp though.

Maybe this isn’t even an intended use of alias but still. Why doesn’t it work?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 27 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

alias is for aliasing commands. If you want to “alias“ arguments, use shell/environment variables.

$ docs=/media/docs
$ cd $docs

[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 6 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

It is worth acknowledging that this probably seems unintuitive to a new user. Makes it look like the shell has two different aliasing systems.

It makes sense the more familiar you are with bash, though. If you ever tried to cd /some/other/path-with-docs/in/the/string you'd end up accidentally running cd /some/other/path-with-/media/docs/in/the/string.

Which would be confusing at best, or a security issue at worst. Better to see that $ in the cmd and know you're injecting a var's value.

[–] clmbmb@lemmy.dbzer0.com -5 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

New users should try to take a little time to read the basics, not suppose things then ask strangers in the internet.

[–] Black616Angel@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Wow, you are unable to even read the post you reply under.
They said that they don't know, what terms to use for their search.

[–] clmbmb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 58 minutes ago

Wow, I replied to a reply, not to the original poster. Anyway, I still stand by my idea.