setting aliases

[Fred Ruffet]

Hi !

I need to set an alias for a command, but it is not exported even when using -x. Here is what I have :

#alias -x foo=yeah
#alias -x
autoload='typeset -fu'
command='command '
foo=yeah
functions='typeset -f'
history='fc -l'
integer='typeset -i'
local=typeset
nohup='nohup '
r='fc -e -'
stop='kill -STOP'
suspend='kill -STOP $$'
type='whence -v'
#sh
#alias
autoload='typeset -fu'
command='command '
functions='typeset -f'
history='fc -l'
integer='typeset -i'
local=typeset
nohup='nohup '
r='fc -e -'
stop='kill -STOP'
suspend='kill -STOP $$'
type='whence -v'

Isn't my alias supposed to exist in subshells ?
And where are other aliases set ? (can't find them in profile)

[Sanjay Kumar Suri]

alias are set in .shrc or .kshrc. alias are availabe in subshells also.

sks

[Ralph Grothe]

Maybe you still have to assign the environment variable ENV to the file where your alias definitions reside, and export it.

[Mark Grant]

From the sh-posix man page

"Exported aliases remain in effect for subshells but must be reinitialized for separate invocations of the shell"

[Fred Ruffet]

They don't seem to. I have aliases that are not set in .kshrc, .shrc, .profile, /etc/profile... and aliases do not appear in subshells (try to launch a new shell, and you'll see) even if I use "alias -x".

[Sanjay Kumar Suri]

Very trivial but

Have you set the alias as below?

alias dir=ls

sks

[Fred Ruffet]

Of course, I tried alias "dir"="ls". but when I launch sh, I don't see it anymore.

I'll try to use ENV variable to set up aliases for each new shell (even if I think alias -x should have worked :)

[Jean-Luc Oudart · Accepted solution]

Hi tried myself

alias -x jlo='pwd'
alias jlo2='ls -C1'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
alias in current shell => I have both in the list
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
sh : create new shell => I have none of them
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
create a script that list the aliases.
when I run the script , this is a new process
I have jlo but not jlo2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So this is exported for a process but not for a new shell
For this you need to setup your ENV variable :
ENV If this parameter is set, parameter substitution is
performed on the value to generate the path name of the
script to be executed when the shell is invoked (see
the "Invocation" subsection). This file is typically
used for alias and function definitions.

Regards,
Jean-Luc

[Fred Ruffet]

Do your script to list aliases include a #!/bin/sh line ?

[Sanjay Kumar Suri]

I have following observation:

alias set in .shrc are availabe in child shell where alias set at $prompt are not.

sks

[MarkSyder]

I have a file alias.ksh which contains my aliases. When I log in I run . alias.ksh.

The . before the command makes sure the aliases are available in the current shell.

Mark Syder (like the drink but spelt different)

[Chia-Wei]

Let's say your aliases are stored in file .alias.ksh

You need to add this line to your .profile :
export ENV=.alias.ksh

With this it will work.