Bash alias arguments

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Possible Duplicate:
How to pass parameters to an alias?

I am trying to make a bash alias that will allow me to quickly make an archive of the current git repo.

My current alias is:

alias gitarch="git archive master --format=tar | gzip >$@"

This works great if I supply a destination file exactly like gitarch ~/Desktop/MyArchive.tar.gz but I want to be able to just type a filename and it will always save to the desktop with the tar.gz extension. I tried doing:

alias gitarch="git archive master --format=tar | gzip >~/Desktop/$@.tar.gz"

... but it doesn't seem to work correctly.

Can anyone tell me the secret to getting this working?

To help a little bit more, if you say alias sayhello='echo "sayhello $@ and something else"' and then you type sayhello Dario it will show sayhello and something else Dario. That is the problem of the $@ you used. You're creating a .tar.gzYOURNAME file, so that the file should be hidden =P — D4RIO, Jan 13 '12 at 21:05

score 10 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 13 '12 at 23:06

10

The secret is simply creating a bash function instead - aliases don't support positional parameter substitution:

gitarch() { git archive master --format=tar | gzip >"$1"; }

edited Jan 13 '12 at 23:06

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'

829,060

answered Jan 13 '12 at 20:47

The only "thing" is that it will not be shown when you say just 'alias' – D4RIO Jan 13 '12 at 20:53
2

@D4RIO No problem, just use set to list the functions or type. – Jan 13 '12 at 20:54
1

I would use "$1" instead of $@. – enzotib Jan 13 '12 at 21:26
Thank you, I've managed to get it working with all your help. I'm not exactly sure why this is flagged as duplicate, the other possible question was nothing like mine. – ThisDarkTao Jan 14 '12 at 09:55
@D4RIO you can always alias the function as alias gita="gitarch". Not perfect but does make it show up. – Jim Jun 22 '18 at 15:34

Bash alias arguments

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