Multiple commands in an alias for bash

Question

I d like to define an alias that runs the following two commands consecutively    gnome-screensaver gnome-screensaver-command --lock   Right now I ve added  alias lock  gnome-screensaver-command --lock    to my  bashrc but since I lock my workstation so often it would be easier to just type one command

User · Answer

Add this function to your    bashrc and restart your terminal or run source    bashrc  function lock         gnome-screensaver     gnome-screensaver-command --lock     This way these two commands will run whenever you enter lock in your terminal    In your specific case creating an alias may work  but I don t recommend it  Intuitively we would think the value of an alias would run the same as if you entered the value in the terminal  However that s not the case      The rules concerning the definition and use of aliases are somewhat   confusing    and     For almost every purpose  shell functions are preferred over aliases    So don t use an alias unless you have to   https   ss64 com bash alias html

User · Answer

Does this not work   alias whatever  gnome-screensaver   gnome-screensaver-command --lock

User · Answer

The other answers answer the question adequately  but your example looks like the second command depends on the first one being exiting successfully   You may want to try a short-circuit evaluation in your alias     alias lock  gnome-screensaver  amp  amp  gnome-screensaver-command --lock    Now the second command will not even be attempted unless the first one is successful   A better description of short-circuit evaluation is described in this SO question

User · Answer

Try   alias lock  gnome-screensaver  gnome-screensaver-command --lock    or  lock         gnome-screensaver     gnome-screensaver-command --lock     in your  bashrc  The second solution allows you to use arguments

User · Answer

On windows  in Git etc bash bashrc I use  at the end of the file  a        git add  1       git status    and then in git bash simply write   a Config

User · Answer

Aliases are meant for aliasing command names   Anything beyond that should be done with functions   alias ll  ls -l    The ll command is an alias for ls -l   Aliases are names that are still associated with the original name   ll is just a slightly specific kind of ls   d         if exists colordiff  then         colordiff -ur          elif exists diff  then         diff -ur          elif exists comm  then         comm -3   1    2      fi   less     A function is a new command that has internal logic   It isn t simply a rename of another command   It does internal operations   Technically  aliases in the Bash shell language are so limited in capabilities that they are extremely ill suited for anything that involves more than a single command   Use them for making a small mutation of a single command  nothing more   Since the intention is to create a new command that performs an operation which internally will resolve in other commands  the only correct answer is to use a function here   lock         gnome-screensaver     gnome-screensaver-command --lock     Usage of aliases in a scenario like this runs into a lot of issues   Contrary to functions  which are executed as commands  aliases are expanded into the current command  which will lead to very unexpected issues when combining this alias  command  with other commands   They also don t work in scripts

User · Answer

So use a semi-colon   alias lock  gnome-screensaver  gnome-screen-saver-command --lock    This doesn t work well if you want to supply arguments to the first command  Alternatively  create a trivial script in your  HOME bin directory

User · Answer

Adding my 2 cents to the 11 year old discussion try this   alias lock  gnome-screensaver  gnome-screensaver-command --lock

User · Answer

This would run the 2 commands one after another   alias lock  gnome-screensaver   gnome-screensaver-command --lock

[bash] Multiple commands in an alias for bash

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