Is it possible to make bash-like aliases in Windows?

Introduction

Aliases are a great tool for command-line users. They allow you to create shortcuts for long and complex commands, making it easier to use them in the future. Bash is a popular shell that supports aliases, but what about Windows? Can you create bash-like aliases in Windows? In this post, we will explore the possibilities of creating aliases in Windows and how to do it.

What are aliases?

An alias is a shortcut for a command or a group of commands. It allows you to use a shorter and more memorable name instead of typing out the entire command every time you need to use it. Bash, a Unix shell, has built-in support for aliases. You can define an alias by using the alias command followed by the name of the alias and the command it represents. For example, the following command creates an alias for the ls command:

alias l='ls -CF'

This creates an alias called l that represents the ls -CF command. Now, whenever you type l in the terminal, it will execute the ls -CF command.

Aliases in Windows

Windows does not have built-in support for aliases like Bash. However, you can still create aliases in Windows using third-party tools. One such tool is doskey, a command-line utility that allows you to create macros and aliases for commands.

Using doskey to create aliases

The doskey command is available in all versions of Windows, starting from Windows XP. It allows you to create macros and aliases for commands. Here’s how to create an alias using doskey:

1. Open the Command Prompt.
2. Type the following command to create an alias:

doskey alias_name=command

Replace alias_name with the name of the alias you want to create, and command with the command you want the alias to represent. For example, to create an alias called ytx that represents the youtube-dl -ciw -f bestaudio –yes-playlist command, you would type:

doskey ytx=youtube-dl -ciw -f bestaudio --yes-playlist

Now, whenever you type ytx in the Command Prompt, it will execute the youtube-dl -ciw -f bestaudio –yes-playlist command.

Using PowerShell to create aliases

PowerShell is a more powerful command-line shell that comes with Windows 10. It has built-in support for aliases, which can be created using the New-Alias cmdlet. Here’s how to create an alias using PowerShell:

1. Open PowerShell.
2. Type the following command to create an alias:

New-Alias alias_name command

Replace alias_name with the name of the alias you want to create, and command with the command you want the alias to represent. For example, to create an alias called ytx that represents the youtube-dl -ciw -f bestaudio –yes-playlist command, you would type:

New-Alias ytx 'youtube-dl -ciw -f bestaudio --yes-playlist'

Now, whenever you type ytx in PowerShell, it will execute the youtube-dl -ciw -f bestaudio –yes-playlist command.

Conclusion

Aliases are a great tool for command-line users, and they can be used in Windows as well as Unix systems. Although Windows does not have built-in support for aliases like Bash, you can still create aliases using third-party tools like doskey or PowerShell. These tools allow you to create shortcuts for long and complex commands, making it easier to use them in the future. Now that you know how to create aliases in Windows, you can start using them to save time and improve your productivity.

The most basic method that is effective on all Windows versions is to utilize typical batch files, saved in a shared folder that can be accessed from your PATH. In order to transmit input to batch files, utilize %*, which signifies “all parameters given to the batch file command line”, or alternatively, use %1, %2, … %9 to mention specific parameters. In my case, I prefer to keep my batch files in the C:\Batch directory and include it at the beginning of my PATH. This way, when running the batch files, you can exclude the .bat extension to achieve a similar appearance and functionality to bash aliases.

Few examples of my own:

The file named s3cmd.bat comprises of the command “python c:\devtools\s3cmd-2.0.0\s3cmd %“, which directs all input parameters to the actual s3cmd application.

The file clangcheck.bat serves as a brief command for “clang-check -analyze -extra-arg -Xclang -extra-arg -analyzer-output=text %“, which transmits the batch parameters, along with additional arguments, to clang-check. epoch_to_time.bat is used for transforming Unix epoch time to human-readable local time.

This file consists of the command “perl -pe “s/([\d]{10})/localtime $1/eg;” %1″, where %1 represents the single parameter expected as the epoch time to convert.