MacOS – Alias that allows to edit ~/.bashrc and then “sources” it automatically – Why it doesn’t work

bashbash-aliasbashrcmacostextmate

I use MacBook Air with OSX 10.7.2.

I would like to create an alias that does the following:

Opens TextMate with ~/.bashrc and allows me to edit it
Once I close TextMate, "sources" ~/.bashrc (so if I add a new alias, for example, it will be available immediately)

I tried the following:

alias b="/usr/bin/mate -w ~/.bashrc; source ~/.bashrc"

but it doesn't work: when I close TextMate, the shell doesn't return (I don't see the shell prompt).

Any ideas?

Best Answer

I don't have TextMate, but using your example with emacs works as expected. Possibly a problem with TextMate? Could you try another editor?

Related Solutions

Use Notepad++ from Cygwin without having the shell wait for an exit code

You could try a bash function to pass the arguments before the ampersand:

np ()
{
    /cygdrive/c/Program\ Files/Notepad++/notepad++.exe $* &
}

BUT the bigger issue may be the whole idea of not waiting until Notepad++ exits. Shell commands which use $EDITOR typically are designed to wait until the editor sends back an indication that the editing has completed. This usually means that the editor has exited (e.g. with vi or nano).

Emacs has a way to set your EDITOR to emacsclient and then when you're done editing, you hit a magical keystroke (C-x #) to indicate that editing is complete. If Notepad++ had something similar for cygwin users, I can see how this would work.

Another alternative is to use plain, boring, simple Notepad as your EDITOR and reserve Notepad++ for heavy use (I got the idea from this blog post)

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Use Notepad++ from Cygwin without having the shell wait for an exit code

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