alias - provide an alias for a command

alias [-h] [<name> [<string>]]

The "alias" command, if given no arguments, will print the definition of all current aliases.

Given a single argument, it will print the definition of that alias (if any). Given two arguments, the keyword "name" becomes an alias for the command string "string", replacing any other alias with the same name.

Command options:

-h
Print the command usage.
<name>
Alias
<string>
Command string
It is possible to create aliases that take arguments by using the history substitution mechanism. To protect the history substitution character `%' from immediate expansion, it must be preceded by a `\' when entering the alias.

For example:

   vis> alias read read_\%:1 \%:2.\%:1
   vis> read blif lion
will create an alias `read', execute "read_blif lion.blif".

And...

  vis> alias echo2 "echo Hi ; echo \%* !"
  vis> echo2 happy birthday
will print:

  Hi
  happy birthday !
CAVEAT: Currently there is no check to see if there is a circular dependency in the alias definition. e.g.

  vis> alias foo "print_network_stats; print_network; foo"
creates an alias which refers to itself. Executing the command "foo" will result an infinite loop during which the commands "print_network_stats" and "print_network" will be executed.

Last updated on 20010517 18h00
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