fish-shell/doc_src/cmds/alias.rst
Johannes Altmanninger 414d9a1eb1 Reference more non-fish shell builtins that have relevant differences
When writing scripts for other shells, it can be confusing and annoying
that our `man` function shadows other manual pages, for example `exec(1p)`
from [Linux man-pages]. I almost never want to see the fish variant for such
contended cases (which obviuosly don't include fish-specific commands like
`string`, only widely-known shell builtins).

For the contented cases like `exec`, the POSIX documentation is more
substantial and useful, since it describes a (sub)set of languages widely
used for scripting.

Because of this I think we should stop overriding the system's man pages.
Nowadays we offer `exec -h` as intuitive way to show the documentation for
the fish-specific command (note that `help` is not a good replacement because
it uses a web browser).

Looking through the contended commands, it seems like for most of them,
the fish version is not substantially different from the system version.
A notable exception is `read` but I don't think it's a very important one.

So I think we should can sacrifice a bit of the native fish-scripting
experience in exchange for playing nicer with other shells. I think the
latter is more important because scripting is not our focus, the way I see it.
So maybe put our manpath at the end.

In lieu of that, let's at least have `exec.rst` reference the system variant.

[Linux man-pages]: https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/

Closes #10376
2024-04-20 13:34:08 +02:00

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2.3 KiB
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.. _cmd-alias:
alias - create a function
=========================
Synopsis
--------
.. synopsis::
alias
alias [--save] NAME DEFINITION
alias [--save] NAME=DEFINITION
Description
-----------
.. only:: builder_man
NOTE: This page documents the fish builtin ``alias``.
To see the documentation on any non-fish versions, use ``command man alias``.
``alias`` is a simple wrapper for the ``function`` builtin, which creates a function wrapping a command. It has similar syntax to POSIX shell ``alias``. For other uses, it is recommended to define a :doc:`function <function>`.
If you want to ease your interactive use, to save typing, consider using an :doc:`abbreviation <abbr>` instead.
``fish`` marks functions that have been created by ``alias`` by including the command used to create them in the function description. You can list ``alias``-created functions by running ``alias`` without arguments. They must be erased using ``functions -e``.
- ``NAME`` is the name of the alias
- ``DEFINITION`` is the actual command to execute. ``alias`` automatically appends ``$argv``, so that all parameters used with the alias are passed to the actual command.
You cannot create an alias to a function with the same name. Note that spaces need to be escaped in the call to ``alias`` just like at the command line, *even inside quoted parts*.
The following options are available:
**-h** or **--help**
Displays help about using this command.
**-s** or **--save**
Saves the function created by the alias into your fish configuration directory using :doc:`funcsave <funcsave>`.
Example
-------
The following code will create ``rmi``, which runs ``rm`` with additional arguments on every invocation.
::
alias rmi="rm -i"
# This is equivalent to entering the following function:
function rmi --wraps rm --description 'alias rmi=rm -i'
rm -i $argv
end
# This needs to have the spaces escaped or "Chrome.app..."
# will be seen as an argument to "/Applications/Google":
alias chrome='/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome banana'
See more
--------
1. The :doc:`function <function>` command this builds on.
2. :ref:`Functions <syntax-function>`.
3. :ref:`Defining aliases <syntax-aliases>`.