Hi there,

I'm a newbie with a specific goal: to get my todo.txt to display on my os x desktop. Now that I've figured this out using Geektool, I'd like to create an alias to edit my todo.txt quickly. I've been trying to edit .bash_profile to create this alias, but something is going wrong.

I'm using this page as my guide. They suggest these edits to the .bash_profile:

# Access todo.sh from anywhere in the file tree. Add the following to your ~/.bashrc file (~/.bash_profile for Mac and Cygiwn users):

PATH=$PATH:"/path/to/your/todo/scripts"

# Avoid typing todo.sh every time. Add the following to your ~/.bashrc file (~/.bash_profile for Mac and Cygwin users):

alias t='todo.sh -d /path/to/your/todo.cfg'


Then you simply type t add laundry from anywhere in your file tree to add a task.

So, coming from that, here's how my .bash_profile reads:

PATH=$PATH:"/users/Andy/todo.sh"
alias t='todo.sh -d /users/andy/todo.cfg'

But when I try to add to the todo list i get this:

andy-hendersons-macbook:~ Andy$ t add "don't forget the milk"
-bash: todo.sh: command not found

In place of the first line in the .bash_profile, I have also tried:

PATH=$PATH:"/users/Andy/documents/todo.txt"

and

PATH=$PATH:"/users/Andy/documents/todo/

The Todo.sh is in my ~/Andy/ folder, but the .txt file it refers to is in my ~/andy/documents folder. However, now that it's being edited by Geektool I guess it looks in finder like a folder that contains several different .txt files, which is why I tried the version ending in /todo/.

Do you have any thoughts? Could I give any more information about what I'm doing? Thanks a lot.

-Andy

Hi, and Welcome to LQ!

First I don't use Mac and I don't intend to, so I might be off about Macs. However you configuration is having a case problem. You path is pointing a /users/Andy/ location, while your alias is pointing a /users/andy/ location (notice the different cases of A and a). So if your OS X configuration is using a case sensitive file system, (which looks like the case BTW) you are creating an incorrect alias.

So it looks like a simple case of changing the "andy" in the alias to "Andy". Good luck.

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't read carefully the first time. Try logging out and logging in to make your changes to the .bash_profile. If you have the correct paths set it should work. If you want to check immediately without logging out and in, try
$ source ~/.bash_profile
before you execute t.

Check the case difference too. If your filesystem is case sensitive file and directory names has to be corrected accordingly (Eg: andy/Andy, todo.sh/Todo.sh). And also make sure the todo.sh file is executable (Eg: $ chmod u+x ~/todo.sh)

Maybe try

alias t='./todo.sh -d /path/to/your/todo.cfg'

also make sure that you chmod +x todo.sh so it can be executable.

Okay, I had already made the todo.sh an executable file I think. For instance, I am able to do things like this:

andy-hendersons-macbook:~ Andy$ sh /users/andy/todo.sh add "Don't forget the milk"
TODO: 'Don't forget the milk' added on line 2.

But the alias thing is still not working. I tried both accounting for case and also the suggestion in the second post.

On another blog post, this guy suggests a different way of making an alias. Would anyone mind writing briefly how I could make this work given my current set up? Here's the line in particular:

6) Take todo.sh and move it to /usr/local/bin so you can call it from any directory:

sudo mv todo.sh /usr/local/bin/.


Thanks!

First thing,

Seems to imply that you have to use ~/.bashrc for pc, and ~/.bash_profile for mac/cygwin. If that's what they mean, then it's false. The bash init files are not arch dependent. ~/.bashrc is for non-login interactive shells (i.e. when you launch an xterm), while ~/.bash_profile is for interactive AND login shells (i.e. when you login in text mode without kdm or the like, or when you pass --login explicitly).

Read the "INVOCATION" section in the bash man page if you want to know more about the bash init files. And use the correct one depending on how do you open your bash session, or both if you want to be sure.

You should double check the value of $PATH (echo $PATH) on your shell. If the path hasn't been added then you are using the wrong file, or there's something wrong in the code you are editing. You can also use "which" to check if a given command is in the path, and you can use "alias" without arguments to see the aliases that have been defined. Some things to check.

I think the above is your problem. Bash is looking in a directory named todo.sh for your executable. The path should be:

That's it, it's curious how it is always the simplest thing which goes unnoticed.

i92guboj, simple I can do

Okay, so we must be getting somewhere because my error is different now! Thanks guys.

Here is the text of my .bash_profile:

PATH=$PATH:"/users/Andy/"
alias t='todo.sh -d /users/Andy/'
~
...
~
~
".bash_profile" 2L, 60C

And this is what I'm now getting when I try to use the alias:

andy-hendersons-macbook:~ Andy$ t add "don't forget to thank LQ for their help"
./todo.sh: line 320: .: /users/Andy: is a directory
Fatal Error: is not a directory
andy-hendersons-macbook:~ Andy$

Again, if I run things like this, it works:

andy-hendersons-macbook:~ Andy$ sh /users/andy/todo.sh add "don't forget to thank LQ for being l33t"
TODO: 'don't forget to thank LQ for being l33t' added on line 3.
andy-hendersons-macbook:~ Andy$

Any thoughts? Thanks again.

Also, this gives me the same error:

PATH=$PATH:"/users/Andy/"
alias t='todo.sh -d /users/Andy/todo.cfg'

andy-hendersons-macbook:~ Andy$ t add run!
/users/Andy/todo.sh: line 320: .: /users/Andy/: is a directory
Fatal Error: is not a directory
andy-hendersons-macbook:~ Andy$

If post #10 is a change to your .bash_profile did you source it?

Yes this is it. It works perfectly now. What does sourcing something do? Thanks a lot for the help.

Best,
Andy

You're welcome. I'm glad that you got it working!

.bash_profile & .bashrc are read when you log in or when you open a new shell. When you made the changes to your .bash_profile they had no effect on your current shell. So by typing "source .bash_profile" you made the current shell reread it. Logging out and then logging back in would have had the same effect.

From "man bash":Norm