Alias For Shorten Your Commands

For lazy Unix user like me, it’s quite nice to have private command which short as a replacement for long command. It can be implement by adding alias to replace some commands that too long to be typed. To make the alias permanently, we must registered it in the profile file. In my Ubuntu Linux, I can do that by edit $HOME/.bashrc file.

tedy@tedy-laptop:~$ tail $HOME/.bashrc
....
alias ceklog='tail -100 /var/log/messages'
....
tedy@tedy-laptop:~$ 

After adding that two aliases, I can type ceklog to saving time typing long command 'tail -100 /var/log/messages' Remember : after add item in the .bashrc we must close the current shell first to let the alias works. Look the example below; my alias works like a charm.

tedy@tedy-laptop:~$ ceklog
....
....
Apr 15 14:46:07 tedy-laptop kernel: [19512.722594] usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
Apr 15 14:46:07 tedy-laptop kernel: [19512.910427] usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Apr 15 14:46:07 tedy-laptop kernel: [19513.477569] Bluetooth: Generic Bluetooth USB driver ver 0.3
Apr 15 14:46:07 tedy-laptop kernel: [19513.477666] usbcore: registered new interface driver btusb
Apr 15 14:46:10 tedy-laptop kernel: [19516.500204] usb 1-2: USB disconnect, address 2
Apr 15 14:47:29 tedy-laptop kernel: [19595.184588] sky2 eth0: disabling interface
Apr 15 14:47:29 tedy-laptop kernel: [19595.221700] iwlagn 0000:0c:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
Apr 15 14:47:34 tedy-laptop kernel: [19600.563508] sky2 eth0: enabling interface
Apr 15 14:47:34 tedy-laptop kernel: [19600.568480] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
Apr 15 14:47:34 tedy-laptop kernel: [19600.575494] iwlagn 0000:0c:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
Apr 15 14:47:34 tedy-laptop kernel: [19600.575836] iwlagn: Radio disabled by HW RF Kill switch
Apr 15 14:47:34 tedy-laptop kernel: [19600.583516] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
Apr 15 14:47:36 tedy-laptop kernel: [19602.249848] sky2 eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex, flow control both
Apr 15 14:47:36 tedy-laptop kernel: [19602.250324] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready

You can see that the alias give me the same output when I execute  tail -100 /var/log/messages :

tedy@tedy-laptop:~$ tail -100 /var/log/messages
....
....
Apr 15 14:46:07 tedy-laptop kernel: [19512.722594] usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
Apr 15 14:46:07 tedy-laptop kernel: [19512.910427] usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Apr 15 14:46:07 tedy-laptop kernel: [19513.477569] Bluetooth: Generic Bluetooth USB driver ver 0.3
Apr 15 14:46:07 tedy-laptop kernel: [19513.477666] usbcore: registered new interface driver btusb
Apr 15 14:46:10 tedy-laptop kernel: [19516.500204] usb 1-2: USB disconnect, address 2
Apr 15 14:47:29 tedy-laptop kernel: [19595.184588] sky2 eth0: disabling interface
Apr 15 14:47:29 tedy-laptop kernel: [19595.221700] iwlagn 0000:0c:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
Apr 15 14:47:34 tedy-laptop kernel: [19600.563508] sky2 eth0: enabling interface
Apr 15 14:47:34 tedy-laptop kernel: [19600.568480] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
Apr 15 14:47:34 tedy-laptop kernel: [19600.575494] iwlagn 0000:0c:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
Apr 15 14:47:34 tedy-laptop kernel: [19600.575836] iwlagn: Radio disabled by HW RF Kill switch
Apr 15 14:47:34 tedy-laptop kernel: [19600.583516] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
Apr 15 14:47:36 tedy-laptop kernel: [19602.249848] sky2 eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex, flow control both
Apr 15 14:47:36 tedy-laptop kernel: [19602.250324] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready

To make the alias works for all user in the system, we must register the alias in the /etc/bash.bashrc

root@tedy-laptop:~/bin# vi /etc/bash.bashrc
....
alias ceklog='tail -100 /var/log/messages'
....

Other UNIX/Linux distro maybe have different global profile definition file. Solaris for example, use /etc/profile to store all global profile parameters.

1 thought on “Alias For Shorten Your Commands

  1. Pingback: Blognya Tedy Tirtawidjaja

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.