Aliases are custom commands

Aliases are custom commands which can be used to make the work with the shell easier and faster. For example, if your current working directory is /usr/bin and you want to quickly go to /var/cache/apt/archives you can do a 'cd /var/cache/apt/archives'. If you want to save time, you may want to type only a command such as 'cache' or 'debs. Or you may want to update your Debian system in one command, so instead of typing 'su -c "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade"' you only type 'upgrade' or something of your choice. This is where aliases come to help.

In this How-To I will explain two ways of creating aliases.

Method 1
The first method is to add aliases directly into your ~/.bashrc file. The format should be:

alias name='command'

For example you can add something like:

alias ll='ls -l'
alias deb='cd /var/cache/apt/archives'
alias dld='cd ~/downloads'
alias upgrade='su -c "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade"'

Open a console and try your aliases. For example if you type 'deb', the current working directory will be changed to /var/cache/apt/archives.

Method 2
The second method lets you make a separate aliases file, so you won't have to put them in ~/.bashrc, but to a file of your choice. First, edit your ~/.bashrc file and add or uncomment the following lines:

if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
. ~/.bash_aliases
fi

Save it and close the file. After that, all you have to do is create a ~/.bash_aliases file and add your aliases there, with the same format specified at the first method.

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Others useful commands on linux

# alias hh='history'

set an alias for a command - hh = history [man]

# apropos ...keyword

display a list of commands that pertain to keywords of a program , useful when you know what your program does, but you don't know the name of the command [man]

# chsh

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# chsh --list-shells

nice command to know if you have to remote into another box [man]

# gpg -c file1

encrypt a file with GNU Privacy Guard [man]

# gpg file1.gpg

decrypt a file with GNU Privacy Guard [man]

# ldd /usr/bin/ssh

show shared libraries required by ssh program [man]

# man ping

display the on-line manual pages for example on ping command - use '-k' option to find any related commands [man]

# mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 `uname -r`

create a boot floppy [man]

# wget -r www.example.com

download an entire web site [man]

# wget -c www.example.com/file.iso

download a file with the ability to stop the download and resume later [man]

# echo 'wget -c www.example.com/files.iso' | at 09:00

start a download at any given time [man]

# whatis ...keyword

displays description of what a program does [man]

# who -a

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READ MORE - Others useful commands on linux