[linux] Define an alias in fish shell

I would like to define some aliases in fish. Apparently it should be possible to define them in

~/.config/fish/functions

but they don't get auto loaded when I restart the shell. Any ideas?

This question is related to linux shell fish

The answer is


Save your files as ~/.config/fish/functions/{some_function_name}.fish and they should get autoloaded when you start fish.


This is how I define a new function foo, run it, and save it persistently.

sthorne@pearl~> function foo
                    echo 'foo was here'
                end
sthorne@pearl~> foo
foo was here
sthorne@pearl~> funcsave foo

make a function in ~/.config/fish/functions called mkalias.fish and put this in

function mkalias --argument key value
  echo alias $key=$value
  alias $key=$value
  funcsave $key
end

and this will create aliases automatically.


To properly load functions from ~/.config/fish/functions

You may set only ONE function inside file and name file the same as function name + add .fish extension.

This way changing file contents reload functions in opened terminals (note some delay may occur ~1-5s)

That way if you edit either by commandline

function name; function_content; end

then

funcsave name

you have user defined functions in console and custom made in the same order.


fish starts by executing commands in ~/.config/fish/config.fish. You can create it if it does not exist:

vim ~/.config/fish/config.fish

and save it with :wq

step1. make configuration file (like .bashrc)

config.fish

step2. just write your alias like this;

alias rm="rm -i"


If you add an abbr instead of an alias you'll get better auto-complete. In fish abbr more closely matches the behavior of a bash alias.

abbr -a gco git checkout

Will -add a new abbreviation gco that expands to git checkout.

Here's a video demo of the resulting auto-complete features


For posterity, fish aliases are just functions:

$ alias foo="echo bar"
$ type foo
foo is a function with definition
function foo
    echo bar $argv; 
end

To remove it

$ unalias foo
/usr/bin/unalias: line 2: unalias: foo: not found
$ functions -e foo
$ type foo
type: Could not find “foo”

I found the prior answers and comments to be needlessly incomplete and/or confusing. The minimum that I needed to do was:

  1. Create ~/.config/fish/config.fish. This file can optionally be a softlink.
  2. Add to it the line alias myalias echo foo bar.
  3. Restart fish. To confirm the definition, try type myalias. Try the alias.

  1. if there is not config.fish in ~/.config/fish/, make it.
  2. there you can write your function .function name; command; end