Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cwjcc!kiwi!chet
From: chet@kiwi.CWRU.EDU (Chet Ramey)
Newsgroups: gnu.emacs
Subject: Re: Bash question from a novice
Message-ID: <547@cwjcc.CWRU.Edu>
Date: 7 Sep 89 20:08:52 GMT
References: <89250.114714T20@PSUVM.BITNET>
Sender: news@cwjcc.CWRU.Edu
Reply-To: chet@kiwi.CWRU.EDU (Chet Ramey)
Organization: CWRU Andrew R. Jennings Computing Center
Lines: 51

In article <89250.114714T20@PSUVM.BITNET> T20@PSUVM.BITNET (Stephen G. Simpson) writes:

	I'm not sure where on the net to turn for information about
	Bash, the GNU Bourne Again Shell, so I'll try here.  If there
	is another newsgroup where Bash users hang out, please e-mail
	me.

Try "gnu.bash.bug".

	However, I have some simple questions about aliasing in Bash.
	For example, I would like to do something like
	
	   alias f='finger $* | more'
	
	so that
	
	    f rms
	
	on the command line would be executed as
	
	    finger rms | more
	
	Unfortunately this doesn't work.  It seems that the
	only way is to use a function definition,
	
	    function f () { finger $* | more ; }
	
	Or, is there a simpler way?

Why is defining the above alias simpler than a function?  Functions are the
right way to do aliasing with arguments; aliases were always meant for simple
textual substitution. 
	
	In the C Shell, I can do it with
	
	   alias f 'finger \!* | more'
	
	and in the DOS world, CED and 4DOS have a similar capability.
	Since Bash is supposed to include a superset of the useful
	features of the C Shell, I thought it ought to have this
	ability to pass arguments to aliases.  Can someone clarify this?

Shell functions are really a much more useful mechanism than csh-style
aliases.  See the 4.3 BSD csh man page, in the "BUGS" section.


Chet Ramey
Chet Ramey			"We are preparing to think about contemplating 
Network Services Group, CWRU	 preliminary work on plans to develop a
chet@cwjcc.INS.CWRU.Edu		 schedule for producing the 10th Edition of 
				 the Unix Programmers Manual." -- Andrew Hume