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I don't have many aliases set up in my .bash_aliases file just yet. Only recently have I discovered how useful they can be.

I can see myself getting quite hooked on aliases so before the file gets too unwieldy I'd like to clarify something by asking a very simple question. Does one alias affect another, or does the alias always revert back to the original command?

An example may make this more clear:

I have ls aliased to ls -lF. Let's say I'd like to also alias d to ls -l | grep -E "^d": does d now use ls -lF in place of ls? If so, is it a matter of order in the .bash_aliases configuration file?

man alias didn't enlighten me.

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From Aliases (section 6.6 of the Bash Manual):

The first word of each simple command, if unquoted, is checked to see if it has an alias. If so, that word is replaced by the text of the alias.

This happens when you use the alias, not when you define it. Here's an example:

$ alias a1='a2 hello' $ alias a2='echo' $ a1 hello $ unalias a2 $ a1 bash: a2: command not found
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    OK great, thanks for that example (and also for the link to the Bash Manual). I quote from the Manual: "The rules concerning the definition and use of aliases are somewhat confusing... For almost every purpose, shell functions are preferred over aliases." I guess I'd better learn how to do shell functions then. :) Commented Apr 27, 2011 at 20:53
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    Yes. Aliases can save you some typing for common commands, but for anything even remotely complex writing custom functions to handle it is usually a better option. Commented Apr 27, 2011 at 21:28
  • @Caleb @Gilles - Thank you folks. BTW, ls='ls --color' I can see being very handy. Love this site.:) Commented Apr 27, 2011 at 21:50
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    @boehj: A rule of thumb is to use an alias when you want to have automatic arguments to a command, using the name of the command or a minor variation, and functions otherwise. So alias ls='ls --color', alias cp='cp -i', but functions for more complex stuff. In particular, I'd make your d a function so that you can pass arguments to ls. [comment reposted to fix confusing braino, thanks @cjm] Commented Apr 27, 2011 at 22:48
  • @Gilles - OK, my task for today is to teach myself how to replicate d as a shell function. Commented Apr 27, 2011 at 23:04

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