.bashrc aliases

Crashed_Again · 01-28-2003, 12:29 PM

I have a question when creating an alias.

Say I want an alias command that sees if I have a certain package installed. In the .bashrc file I would put:

alias rpmfind='rpm -qa | grep'

Okay cool. Now say I want to pipe the output to the more command. This is where I get lost in the syntax. Would it be:

alias rpmfind='rpm -qa | grep' '| more'

Probably not! My question is how do I represent the variable that is being passed to the command.

rpmfind='rpm -qa | grep (HowDoIRepresentVariableHere) | more'

I'm sure this is a simple question. Thanks.

leed_25 · 01-28-2003, 03:39 PM

well, here's one way. I rewrote your alias a little bit to grep all of the php files in and below the current directory, but you'll get the idea, i hope

Code:

alias localfind=_localfind
function _localfind
{
find . -name "*.php" -print | xargs grep $1 | more
}

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whansard · 01-28-2003, 08:11 PM

when you want to pass variables to the alias,
use $1 and up for each variable you pass on the line.
such as
alias delete3files = 'rm $1 $2 $3'

then you can
delete3files thisone thatone otherone

or for more commands in one alias

alias c= 'cd .. ; ls --color -s -a'

Crashed_Again · 01-29-2003, 03:45 AM

Thanks whansard!

leed_25 · 01-29-2003, 01:19 PM

Ahem. In the online documentation for Bash at the
gnu.org site --the horse's mouth, if you will,
see here

you will find this statement:

Quote:

There is no mechanism for using arguments
in the replacement text, as in csh. If arguments
are needed, a shell function should be used (see
section 3.3 Shell Functions).

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here

whansard · 01-30-2003, 02:15 AM

I think i was mixed up and just thinking about bash
scripts, and got aliases mixed up.
yea, the alias just substitutes the command.
bash carries the variables.
I looked at that 3 times today, and just thought you
were being snooty, but i was just mixed up. It took
me 3 times to realize it.

leed_25 · 01-30-2003, 05:52 PM

Whansard, I certainly was not trying to be snooty.
I noticed an error in your post so I thought that
it would be a better thing to offer a correction
with a cited reference than it would be to let
that error mislead others.

I have been programming for a quite some time now
and I've made my fair share of mistakes --some of
them were real whoppers, too-- so, believe me, I
know how it happens.

Crashed_Again · 01-30-2003, 06:54 PM

Thanks everyone. Hey leed_25 I want to get a good book on linux programming. I'm not a newbie programmer (It was my concentration in college) but I would like a book that is pretty easy to understand. God knows I had some programming books in college that were so confusing I just used them as kindling for the fire. Any suggestions?

nxny · 01-30-2003, 07:42 PM

Take a look at RUTE .
You can read it online with a gzip compliant browser ( Mozilla, Netscape 7)

To me at doesnt get any better than this, so I bought it in print from Amazon.