Making a program executable from any directory with one command

Jobin1 · 06-25-2012, 01:31 PM

Hello,
I am working on making a program executable with one command (more specifically, the program is MATLAB). I need to make it executable with just the command "matlab." I have tried making an alias with the following:

alias matlab='cd /pathway_to_matlab | ./matlab'

but the error I get is:
-bash: ./matlab: No such file or directory.

How do I make an alias that both gets me to the necessary directory AND executes the command ./matlab?

273 · 06-25-2012, 01:37 PM

I think just

Code:

alias matlab='/path/to/matlab/matlab'

should work.

suicidaleggroll · 06-25-2012, 01:56 PM

Several options...

Put this in your ~/.bashrc:

Code:

alias matlab='/path/to/matlab/matlab'

Or put this in your ~/.bashrc:

Code:

export PATH=${PATH}:/path/to/matlab

Or run this once (as root/sudo):

Code:

ln -s /path/to/matlab/matlab /usr/local/bin/

Terminal_Cowboy · 06-25-2012, 01:58 PM

@ Jobin1

An alias is not permanent. It is only temporary and you will lose it after closing a terminal or a reboot.

To make it permanent add the alias to your .bashrc file in your home folder.

lleb · 06-25-2012, 03:06 PM

can it be installed in /usr/bin/ if that is in the $PATH for the user?

Jobin1 · 06-25-2012, 03:34 PM

This might make things much more complicated (or maybe I'm just being stupid) but I dont appear to have a .bashrc file, at least not in my home directory. when I go to 'cd /root', and then use the command 'ls -a' I can see a .bashrc file, but it is read only and this is all on a remote terminal where I don't have permission to use sudo root or edit the .bashrc file... is this just something I am going to have to deal with (making the alias every time I log into the terminal)?

suicidaleggroll · 06-25-2012, 04:02 PM

You don't want to edit root's .bashrc file, unless you'll be doing this as root. Things you change in root's .bashrc will not affect regular users.

You just need to find the login file your system uses. It could be that your system uses .bashrc, and you just don't have one yet, or it could use something else like .profile, .bash_profile, etc. Are you using the BASH shell (echo $SHELL)?