MPE/iX Shell and Utilities Reference Manual, Vol 1

alias(1) MPE/iX Shell and Utilities alias(1)
NAME
alias — display or create command aliases
SYNOPSIS
alias –tx [name[=value] ...]
DESCRIPTION
When the first word of a shell command line is not a shell keyword, the shell checks for the
word in the list of currently defined aliases. If it finds a match, the shell replaces the alias with
its associated string value. The result is a new command line that might begin with a shell
function name, a built-in command, an external command or another alias.
When the shell performs alias substitution, it checks to see if value ends with a blank. If so,
the shell also checks the next word of the command line for aliases. The shell then checks the
new command line for aliases and expands them, following these same rules. or recursion
occurs in the expansion of aliases.
Calling alias without parameters displays all the currently defined aliases and their associ-
ated values. Values appear with appropriate quoting so that they are suitable for re-input to
the shell.
Calling alias with parameters in the form of
name=value
creates an alias for each name with the given string value.
If you are defining an alias where value contains a backslash character, you must precede it
with another backslash since when the shell performs the expansion, it interprets a backslash
as the escape character. If you use double quotes to enclose value, you must precede each
component of a double backslash with an additional backslash since the shell escapes charac-
ters both when assigning the alias and again when expanding it
To avoid using four backslashes to represent a single backslash, use apostrophes rather than
double quotes to enclose value, since the shell does not escape characters enclosed in apostro-
phes during assignment. As a result, the shell only escapes characters within apostrophes
when expanding the alias.
Calling alias with name without any value assignment, displays name and its associated
value with appropriate quoting.
1-8 Commands and Utilities