Aliases in Windows command prompt

Question

I have added notepad   exe to my Path in Environment variables    Now in command prompt  notepad   exe filename txt opens the filename txt  But I want to do just np filename txt to open the file    I tried using DOSKEY np notepad    But it is just bringing to the forefront an already opened notepad   without opening the file  How can I make it open the file    Thanks

User · Accepted Answer

To add to josh s answer   you may make the alias es  persistent with the following steps    Create a  bat or  cmd file with your DOSKEY commands  Run regedit and go to HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft Command Processor Add String Value entry with the name AutoRun and the full path of your  bat  cmd file    For example   USERPROFILE  alias cmd  replacing the initial segment of the path with  USERPROFILE  is useful for syncing among multiple machines    This way  every time cmd is run  the aliases are loaded   For Windows 10  add the entry to HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Command Processor instead   For completeness  here is a template to illustrate the kind of aliases one may find useful    echo off     Temporary system path at cmd startup  set PATH  PATH   C  Program Files Sublime Text 2       Add to path by command  DOSKEY add python26 set PATH  PATH   C  Python26   DOSKEY add python33 set PATH  PATH   C  Python33       Commands  DOSKEY ls dir  B DOSKEY sublime sublime text            sublime text exe is name of the executable  By adding a temporary entry to system path  we don t have to write the whole directory anymore  DOSKEY gsp  C  Program Files  x86  Sketchpad5 GSP505en exe  DOSKEY alias notepad  USERPROFILE  Dropbox alias cmd     Common directories  DOSKEY dropbox cd   USERPROFILE  Dropbox     DOSKEY research cd  USERPROFILE  Dropbox Research       Note that the    syntax works after a directory string as well as an executable which takes in arguments  So in the above example  the user-defined command dropbox research points to the same directory as research  As Rivenfall pointed out  it is a good idea to include a command that allows for convenient editing of the alias cmd file  See alias above  If you are in a cmd session  enter cmd to restart cmd and reload the alias cmd file      When I searched the internet for an answer to the question  somehow the discussions were either focused on persistence only or on some usage of DOSKEY only  I hope someone will benefit from these two aspects being together here     Here s a  reg file to help you install the alias cmd  It s set now as an example to a dropbox folder as suggested above   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft Command Processor   AutoRun    USERPROFILE   alias cmd      For single-user applications  the above will do  Nevertheless  there are situations where it is necessary to check whether alias cmd exists first in the registry key  See example below   In a C  Users Public init cmd file hosting potentially cross-user configurations    ECHO OFF REM Add other configurations as needed IF EXIST   USERPROFILE  alias cmd    CALL   USERPROFILE  alias cmd      The registry key should be updated correspondly to C  Users Public init cmd or  using the  reg file   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft Command Processor   AutoRun   C   Users  Public  init cmd

User · Answer

Console Aliases in Windows 10  To define a console alias  use Doskey exe to create a macro  or use the AddConsoleAlias function   doskey  doskey test cd  a very long path test   To also pass parameters add    at the end  doskey short longname     AddConsoleAlias  AddConsoleAlias  TEXT  test                      TEXT  cd    lt a very long path gt   test                      TEXT  cmd exe       More information here Console Aliases  Doskey  Parameters

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Naturally  I would not rest until I have the most convenient solution of all  Combining the very many answers and topics on the vast internet  here is what you can have   Loads automatically with every instance of cmd Doesn t require keyword DOSKEY for aliases example  ls ls --color auto     Note that this is largely based on Argyll s answer and comments  definitely read it to understand the concepts  How to make it work   Create a mac macro file with the aliases you can even use a bat cmd file to also run other stuff  similar to  bashrc in linux  Register it in Registry to run on each instance of cmd     or run it via shortcut only if you want  Example steps   userprofile  cmd aliases mac                                                                                    This file is registered via registry to auto load with each instance of cmd                                    general info                                     https   stackoverflow com a 59978163 985454  -  how to set it up     https   gist github com postcog 5c8c13f7f66330b493b8  -  example doskey macrofile                            loading with cmd shortcut                               create a shortcut with the following target       comspec   k  quot  doskey  macrofile  userprofile  cmd aliases mac  quot   alias subl  USERPROFILE  cmd aliases mac hosts runas  noprofile  savecred  user QWERTY-XPS9370 administrator  quot subl C  Windows System32 drivers etc hosts quot   gt  NUL  p  echo  quot    powercfg -devicequery wake armed    quot   amp  amp  powercfg -devicequery wake armed  amp  amp   echo  quot    powercfg -requests     quot   amp  amp  powercfg -requests  amp  amp   echo  quot    powercfg -waketimers    quot p  amp  amp  powercfg -waketimers  ls ls --color auto    ll ls -l --color auto    la ls -la --color auto    grep grep --color       cd  USERPROFILE  cdr cd C  repos cde cd C  repos esquire cdd cd C  repos dixons cds cd C  repos stekkie cdu cd C  repos uplus cduo cd C  repos uplus oxbridge-fe cdus cd C  repos uplus stratus  npx npx --no-install    npxi npx    npr npm run     now vercel        only in bash   alias whereget   whereget     A  1  B  2  shift 2  eval   quot   where  B   head - A   tail -1   quot          whereget   history doskey  history    h  SHOW   SAVE   TSAVE   h IF  quot      quot      quot    quot   echo  quot usage  h   SHOW   SAVE   TSAVE   quot   amp  amp   doskey history  ELSE  IF  I  quot  1 quot      quot SAVE quot   doskey history  g g  USERPROFILE  cmd history log  amp  ECHO Command history saved  ELSE  IF  I  quot  1 quot      quot TSAVE quot   echo       date   time        gt  gt   USERPROFILE  cmd history log  amp  doskey history  g g  USERPROFILE  cmd history log  amp  ECHO Command history saved  ELSE  IF  I  quot  1 quot      quot SHOW quot   type  USERPROFILE  cmd history log  ELSE  doskey history     loghistory doskey  history  gt  gt   USERPROFILE  cmd history log    exit echo       date   time        gt  gt   USERPROFILE  cmd history log  amp  doskey history  g g  USERPROFILE  cmd history log  amp  ECHO Command history saved  exiting  amp  timeout 1  amp  exit    exit echo       date   time        gt  gt   USERPROFILE  cmd history log  amp  doskey history  g g  USERPROFILE  cmd history log  amp  exit                                     end                                 rem                                                                       rem   EOF - Don t remove the following line   It clears out the        rem   macro  We re using it because there is no support for comments    rem   in a DOSKEY macro file     rem                                                                        Now you have three options   a  load manually with shortcut  create a shortcut to cmd exe with the following target    comspec   k  quot  doskey  macrofile  userprofile  cmd aliases mac  quot      b  register just the aliases mac macrofile  c  register a regular cmd bat file to also run arbitrary commands see example cmdrc cmd file at the bottom   note  Below  Autorun  is just a placeholder key which will not do anything  Pick one and rename the other  Manually edit registry at this path   HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft Command Processor    Autorun    REG SZ    doskey  macrofile  userprofile  cmd aliases mac   Autorun     REG SZ     USERPROFILE  cmd cmdrc cmd  Or import reg file   userprofile  cmd cmd-aliases reg Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00  HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft Command Processor   quot Autorun quot   quot doskey  macrofile  userprofile   cmd  aliases mac quot   quot Autorun  quot   quot  USERPROFILE   cmd  cmdrc cmd quot    userprofile  cmd cmdrc cmd  you don t need this file if you decided for b  above    This file is registered via registry to auto load with each instance of cmd     https   stackoverflow com a 59978163 985454   echo off doskey  macrofile  userprofile  cmd aliases mac     put other commands here

User · Answer

You need to pass the parameters  try this   doskey np notepad   exe         Edit  responding to Romonov s comment  Q  Is there any way I can make the command prompt remember so I don t have to run this each time I open a new command prompt    doskey is a textual command that is interpreted by the command processor  e g  cmd exe   it can t know to modify state in some other process  especially one that hasn t started yet     People that use doskey to setup their initial command shell environments typically use the  K option  often via a shortcut  to run a batch file which does all the common setup  like- set window s title  colors  etc    cmd exe  K env cmd   env cmd   title  Foo Bar  doskey np notepad   exe

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If you d like to enable aliases on per-directory per-project basis  try the following    First  create a batch file that will look for a file named aliases in the current directory and initialize aliases from it  let   s call it make-aliases cmd   echo off if not exist aliases goto eof echo  Loading aliases     for  f  tokens 1  delims       i in  aliases  do      echo     i   lt     gt    j    doskey   i   j   doskey aliases doskey  macros echo   -------------------- echo   aliases     gt  list  all echo   alt F10     gt  clear all echo  Done   Then  create aliases wherever you need them using the following format   alias1   command1 alias2   command2       for example   b   nmake c   nmake clean r   nmake rebuild  Then  add the location of make-aliases cmd to your  PATH  variable to make it system-wide or just keep it in a known place  Make it start automatically with cmd    I would definitely advise against using HKEY CURRENT USER Software Microsoft Command Processor AutoRun for this  because some development tools would trigger the autorun script multiple times per session  If you use ConEmu you could go another way and start the script from the startup task  Settings   Startup   Tasks   for example  I created an entry called  MSVC    cmd exe  k  vcvars64  amp  amp  make-aliases    and then registered it in Explorer context menu via Settings   Integration gt  with Command   MSVC  -cur console n  so that now I can right-click a folder and launch a VS developer prompt inside it with my aliases loaded automatically  if they happen to be in that folder   Without ConEmu  you may just want to create a shortcut to cmd exe with the corresponding command or simply run make-aliases manually every time     Should you happen to forget your aliases  use the aliases macro  and if anything goes wrong  just reset the current session by pressing Alt F10  which is a built-in command in cmd

User · Answer

If you re just going for some simple commands  you could follow these steps    Create a folder called C  Aliases Add C  Aliases to your path  so any files in it will be found every time  Create a  bat file in C  Aliases for each of the aliases you want   Maybe overkill  but unlike the  otherwise excellent  answer from  Argyll  this solves the problem of this loading every time   For instance  I have a file called dig2 bat with the following in it    echo off echo  dig  noall  answer  1   Your np file would just have the following    echo off echo  notepad   exe  1   Then just add the C  Aliases folder to your PATH environment variable  If you have CMD or PowerShell already opened you will need to restart it   FWIW  I have about 20 aliases  separate  bat files  in my C  Aliases directory - I just create new ones as necessary  Maybe not the neatest  but it works fine   UPDATE  Per an excellent suggestion from user  Mav  it s even better to use    rather than  1  so you can pass multiple files to the command  e g     echo off echo  notepad   exe      That way  you could do this   np c  temp abc txt c  temp def txt c  temp ghi txt   and it will open all 3 files

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Actually  I ll go you one better and let you in on a little technique that I ve used since I used to program on an Amiga   On any new system you use  be it personal or professional  step one is to create two folders   C  BIN and C  BATCH   Then modify your path statement to put both at the start in the order C  BATCH C  BIN  rest of path      Having done that  if you have little out-of-the-way utilities that you need access to simply copy them to the C  BIN folder and they re in your path   To temporarily override these assignments  you can add a batch file with the same name as the executable to the C  BATCH folder and the path will find it before the file in C  BIN   It should cover anything you might ever need to do     Of course  these days the canonical correct way to do this would be to create a symbolic junction to the file  but the same principle applies   There is a little extra added bonus as well   If you want to put something in the system that conflicts with something already in the path  putting it in the C  BIN or C  Batch folder will simply pre-empt the original - allowing you to override stuff either temporarily or permanently  or rename things to names you re more comfortable with - without actually altering the original

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You want to create an alias by simply typing   c   gt alias kgs kubectl get svc  Created alias for kgs kubectl get svc   And use the alias as follows   c   gt kgs alfresco-svc  NAME           TYPE        CLUSTER-IP     EXTERNAL-IP   PORT S    AGE alfresco-svc   ClusterIP   10 7 249 219    lt none gt         80 TCP    8d   Just add the following alias bat file to you path  It simply creates additional batch files in the same directory as itself       echo off   echo    for  f  tokens 1   delims      a in        do set ALL BUT FIRST   b   echo  echo off  gt  C  Development alias-script  1 bat   echo echo   gt  gt  C  Development alias-script  1 bat   echo  ALL BUT FIRST       gt  gt  C  Development alias-script  1 bat   echo Created alias for  1  ALL BUT FIRST    An example of the batch file this created called kgs bat is    echo off  echo   kubectl get svc

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Also  you can create an alias cmd in your path  for example C  Windows  with the command   echo  2  3  4  5  6  gt   windir   1 cmd   Once you do that  you can do something like this   alias nameOfYourAlias commands to run    And after that you can type in comman line   nameOfYourAlias    this will execute   commands to run    BUT the best way for me is just adding the path of a programm   setx PATH   PATH   ProgramFiles  Sublime Text 3   M    And now I run sublime as   subl index html

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First  you could create a file named np cmd and put it in the folder which in PATH search list  Then  edit the np cmd file as below    echo off notepad   exe

User · Answer

Using doskey is the right way to do this  but it resets when the Command Prompt window is closed  You need to add that line to something like  bashrc equivalent  So I did the following     Add  C  Program Files  x86  Notepad    to system path variable  Make a copy of notepad   exe  in the same folder  of course  and rename it to np exe   Works just fine

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Given that you added notepad   exe to your PATH variable  it s extra simple  Create a file in your System32 folder called np bat with the following code    echo off call notepad   exe      The    passes along all arguments you give the np command to the notepad   exe command   EDIT  You will need admin access to save files to the System32 folder  which was a bit wonky for me  I just created the file somewhere else and moved it to System32 manually

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Expanding on roryhewitt answer   An advantage to using  cmd files over DOSKEY is that these  aliases  are then available in other shells such as PowerShell or WSL  Windows subsystem for Linux    The only gotcha with using these commands in bash is that it may take a bit more setup since you might need to do some path manipulation before calling your  alias    eg I have vs cmd which is my  alias  for editing a file in Visual Studio   echo off if   1      goto nofiles start     c  Program Files  x86  Microsoft Visual Studio  11 0 Common7 IDE devenv exe   edit  1 goto end  nofiles start     C  Program Files  x86  Microsoft Visual Studio  11 0 Common7 IDE devenv exe    PATH TO MY NORMAL SLN    end   Which fires up VS  in this case VS2012 - but adjust to taste  using my  normal  project with no file given but when given a file will attempt to attach to a running VS opening that file  within that project  rather than starting a new instance of VS   For using this from bash I then add an extra level of indirection since  vs Myfile  wouldn t always work  alias vs   usr bin run visual studio sh    Which adjusts the paths before calling the vs cmd     bin bash cmd exe  C  c  Windows System32 vs cmd    wslpath sh -w -r  1     So this way I can just do  vs SomeFile txt   In either a command prompt  Power Shell or bash and it opens in my running Visual Studio for editing  which just saves my poor brain from having to deal with VI commands or some such when I ve just been editing in VS for hours

User · Answer

Alternatively you can use cmder which lets you add aliases just like linux   alias subl  C  Program Files Sublime Text 3 subl exe

User · Answer

This solution is not an apt one  but serves purpose in some occasions   First create a folder and add it to your system path  Go to the executable of whatever program you want to create alias for  Right click and send to Desktop  Create Shortcut   Rename the shortcut to whatever alias name is comfortable  Now  take the shortcut and place in your folder   From run prompt you can type the shortcut name directly and you can have the program opened for you  But from command prompt  you need to append  lnk and hit enter  the program will be opened

User · Answer

Since you already have notepad   exe in your path   Create a shortcut in that folder named np and point it to notepad   exe

[windows] Aliases in Windows command prompt

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