tools:How do I create a permanent Bash alias?

 

How do I create a permanent Bash alias?

There are a lot of ways to create an alias. The most used ways are:

1. Add aliases directly in your ~/.bashrc file

   For example: append these line to ~/.bashrc file

   alias ll='ls -l'
   alias rm='rm -i'

   Next time (after you have logged out/in, or done . ~/.bashrc) when you type rm the rm -icommand will be executed.

2. The second method lets you make a separate aliases file, so you won't have to put them in .bashrc, but to a file of your choice. First, edit your ~/.bashrc file and add the following lines if they don't already exist, or uncomment them if they do:

   if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
   . ~/.bash_aliases
   fi

   Save it and close the file. After that, all you have to do is create a ~/.bash_aliases file and add your aliases there, with the same format specified in the first method.

   Contents of my ~/.bash_aliases file:

   alias cs='cd;ls'

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edited Feb 14 at 16:44

Dan

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answered Dec 15 '10 at 8:21

aneeshep

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• 71

  +1 for using ~/.bash_aliases. – ændrük Jun 10 '11 at 5:48

• Yep, using another file for aliases is much more clean, also portable between distros. I do use that file to because some alias are not enough and a function is needed. So it's more much clean if you use a file for that task instead. I have another alias -> alias aliases="xdg-open ~/.bash_aliases && source ~/.bash_aliases", so the alias became avail at saving, and if you make some mistake it will advert you. – erm3nda Apr 27 '17 at 12:08

• somehow after I added the alias such as alias ls='ls -althr', some of the flags given would not take effect, in this case the -t flag didn't take effect. do you know why? – Sajuuk Mar 22 '18 at 8:43 

• 2

  By default ~/.bashrc contains inclusion for ~/.bash_aliases, no need to edit it. – Jaakko May 14 '18 at 9:49

• 1

  Not always ~/.bashrc contains inclusion for ~/.bash_aliases as was in my case with Ubuntu terminal Windows 10 this solution came very handy. – Jose May 30 '18 at 18:10

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