Alias help

mettam · 01-20-2006, 06:00 PM

Hi,
I can write simple aliases but I am stumped with this one, so I hope someone can help me with this alias syntax.

I have a directory with 100 folders all named like this:
work/
BAL001
BAL002
BAL003
etc

I would like to be able to type BAL013 and be taken to the BAL013 directory.

Justin.

pixellany · 01-20-2006, 10:31 PM

You are not looking for aliases---what you want is a soft link. Take a look at man ln for some details.

You can put a link to any file in any other directory.

Electro · 01-21-2006, 03:11 AM

Symbolic links will be too hard and takes some hard drive space. Alias can still be done.

To get to BAL013 using alias:

alias BAL013="cd BAL013"

Log out and log in. Then type BAL013 and you should be in BAL013 directory.

bulliver · 01-21-2006, 06:25 AM

Quote:

alias BAL013="cd BAL013"

But this will only work if you are in the parent directory of 'BAL013', and setting up 100+ of these is going to be very tedious. Plus, they will take up as much memory as the symlinks will take up disk space, if not more. I think this is a task better suited for a shell function:

Code:

cd_dir () {
    cd /home/mettam/work/${1}
}

and call it like:

Code:

$ cd_dir BAL013

You can put this function in your .bashrc and it will get sourced at login just like an alias.

gilead · 01-21-2006, 02:26 PM

As yet another alternative, set the bash CDPATH variable:

Code:

export CDPATH=.:/path/to/work

CDPATH now includes the current directory and /path/to/work and this works from anywhere in the file system. For example, if you are in /usr/local and you type `cd BAL001` you will be taken to /path/to/work/BAL001. See `man bash` and search for CDPATH for a bit more info.

Electro · 01-21-2006, 09:15 PM

I just gave an example. If mettam gave the full directory path to BAL013, then I would put the whole path.

A bash script needs to load up another terminal and run the command cd, so a bash script will take up both hard drive and memory space.

bulliver · 01-22-2006, 01:17 AM

Quote:

A bash script needs to load up another terminal and run the command cd, so a bash script will take up both hard drive and memory space.

Who said anything about a bash script? I mentioned a shell function, and the one I posted takes all of 33 bytes. If you put it in your .bashrc it will be sourced at login, and it will be available in the current terminal.

In any event, it is looking like gilead's solution is the most elegant for the OP's purposes.

mettam · 01-23-2006, 06:27 PM

Thanks for all your help.

The problem now is I am forced to use tcsh not bash, so my aliases are entered in my .cshrc.user file. I tryed to enter Bulliver's script in my .cshrc file but it didnt understand it.

Can someone give me the syntax for a .cshrc file.
Bulliver's file looks ideal if only it worked with tcsh.

Justin..

bulliver · 01-23-2006, 06:42 PM

Sorry guy, don't know csh syntax.

Have you tried, gilead's suggestion? it looks ideal. I think though you need to change 'export' to 'setenv' for csh.