Ubuntu – How to create a permanent Bash alias

aliasbash

I would like to create an alias to rm command in order to have a confirmation message after executing this command. So I am creating an alias like this alias rm='rm -i'. But as far as I know this is a temporary alias and it lives until you close the terminal.

As it is explained here to save alias permanently I need to execute ~/.bash_aliases or ~/.bashrc commands in terminal and add my alias there. But when I execute ~/.bashrc I get following error message :

bash: /home/bakhtiyor/.bashrc: Permission denied

When I run ~/.bash_aliases I get another error message like this:

bash: /home/bakhtiyor/.bash_aliases: File or directory doesn't exist.

What is the actual problem and how can I solve it?

Best Answer

To create an alias permanently add the alias to your .bashrc file

gedit ~/.bashrc

And then add your alias at the bottom.

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Now execute . ~/.bashrc in your terminal (there should be a space between the . and ~/.bashrc.

Now you can check your alias.

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Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Problem in creating alias, get strange messages

Probably you defined these alias in .bashrc file:

alias UIC = 'sudo openvpn --config ~/vpn/UIC-alopez78.ovpn'
alias mat = 'cd /home/alexisblopez/MATLAB/R2014a/bin/'
alias lab = './matlab'

You should edit .bashrc and remove space before and after =:

alias UIC='sudo openvpn --config ~/vpn/UIC-alopez78.ovpn'
alias mat='cd /home/alexisblopez/MATLAB/R2014a/bin/'
alias lab='./matlab'

save your changes and run source .bashrc

Ubuntu – Lazy Calculation result of bash functions in alias

Just use single quotes around the alias declaration command so that the command substitution (pwd) does not take place while declaring (and will expand only when the alias is called):

alias clone='gnome-terminal --working-directory=`pwd` & disown'

Also start using command substitution syntax $() instead of older and problematic ``:

alias clone='gnome-terminal --working-directory="$(pwd)" & disown'

Also note that gnome-terminal is designed in such a manner that whenever you do

gnome-terminal

it would open a new window with the same PID as the original one. This is because its the same process by design, exiting one won't kill the other(s). So you don't need the disown and backgrounding (&), just:

alias clone='gnome-terminal --working-directory="$(pwd)"'

would do.

Moreover, as pointed out by @Digital Trauma, gnome-terminal always starts off at current working directory, so --working-directory is not needed as you are setting it as pwd. So you can just do:

alias clone='gnome-terminal'

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Problem in creating alias, get strange messages

Ubuntu – Lazy Calculation result of bash functions in alias

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