zsh alias that take a variable and expands it.

Question

Krellum OP

Created May ’21

Replies 2

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I have this in my .zshrc file:

Code Block export dir1="Foo/one/"
export dir2="Foo/two/"
alias showdir='echo "dir name: " $1'

When the alias is entered it works like I would expect:

Code Block dale: showdir dir1
dir name: dir1
dale: showdir dir2
dir name: dir2
dale:

What I want instead is:

Code Block dale: showdir dir1
dir name: Foo/one/
dale: showdir dir2
dir name: Foo/two/
dale:

I have done a lot of searching and tried all sorts of character combinations to get the variable to expend in the echo alise and nothings seems to work.

Maybe I need a function? I have tried a few variations of functions too and I still have the same issue. The environmental verible name, when passed in, can't be expended to its defiintion.

I am missing something simple or is this really as hard as it seems?

Thanks!
Dale

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Answer 1

scriptingosx OP

May ’21

Shell aliases are like text replacements, they do not support arguments at all.

If you want more complex functionality with arguments, you define a shell function in your .zshrc .

But for your example, all you are missing is a $ in front of the variable name to make the shell substitute it:

% echo $dir1
Foo/one/
% echo $dir2
Foo/two/

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Answer 2

dive OP

Jun ’21

If you need to switch between directories faster, then I want to recommend zsh-z plugin – a command-line tool that allows you to jump quickly to directories that you have visited frequently in the past or recently.

As for the problem with $($1), I think it is an artificial problem in general. You already exported your project paths as environment variables (with export dir1="..."), so use them appropriately (e.g., showdir $1). You will get zsh's autocomplete for free for environment variables and can always type showdir $ then press TAB to see all the projects you have.

Also, a small recommendation, do not mess up with PWD within scripts and try to avoid direct cd commands. pushd/popd are better and more flexible.

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