Ez Alias -- A lightweight CLI based alias manager

This tool allows you to create, edit, remove, and list aliases from the comfort of your favorite terminal.

Installation

You will want to clone this repo and place it wherever you find it convenient. The default configuration assumes it has been installed in the $HOME directory. If you do not clone it in your home directory you will need to change variables in the config file.

git clone https://github.com/mcadoo300/EZAlias.git

Configuration

You may need to change some file pathing depending on how you organize your aliases, where you cloned this repo or depending on your shell.

Install location

The file_path variable in the config file should point to the directory you cloned this repo into. By default: file_path=$HOME. You also need to change the config source within eza.sh and createman.sh. By default: source $HOME/EZAlias/config, replace $HOME with directory you cloned the repo in.

Alias source(s)

In the config file change the src1 variable to point to the location of your aliases. By default the vairable is set to point at your $HOME directory and is set up for a z shell: src1="$HOME/.zshrc"

Note: If you use multiple files to source aliases from you need to add each source to the variable src_list. By default: src_list=( $src1 ).

Configuring manuals

If you would like to also use the manual page for this script you will need to move (or create a symlink) to the eza.man file. This file (eza.man) should be moved to (or a link created in) /usr/local/man/man1/eza.1.

Example: sudo ln eza.man /usr/local/man/man1/eza.1

As long as $file_path points to the install location you should be able to create manuals for your aliases.

Note: The .man extension was an organizational decision for easy tracking/editing. More info can be found under the 'Creating manual pages for your aliases' section. For more information on standardized man page organization you can refer to this page.

Adding aliases

To add aliases use the option zsh eza.sh -a yourAliasName "the command" . I would recommend setting up an alias to call this script like so: zsh eza.sh -a eza "zsh /path/to/eza.sh"

Note: For all following points in the readme eza implies the command zsh eza.sh .

Listing aliases

To list aliases you can use the command eza -l. This goes into your alias source file(s) and reads out all the lines that start with alias.

Removing aliases

To remove aliases use the command eza -r aliasName.

Editing existing aliases

To Change the Command of an existing alias use the command eza -cc aliasToEdit "new command"

Creating manual pages for your alias

If you are making an alias that is slightly complicated, calls a custom function, have a terrible memory like I do, or are making an alias that is slightly complicated you can use the command eza -am yourAlias "your command". This functions the same as the basic -a command. But at the end you will be prompted to fill in 3 sections of a manual page: 1. NAME 2.SYNOPSIS 3. DESCRIPTION .

Note: This requires sudo permission.

A manual page will be added by default to /usr/local/man/man1/yourAlias.1 AND A HARD LINK to the file will be created in the directory in which you cloned this repo (but with the file extension .man). Editing either of these files will require sudo permission. Once this is complete you can access the description of your alias by using the command man yourAlias.

This link (also provided above) details what types of manuals should be in which section of the .../man/ directory. If you wish to follow standard conventions or if you wish to edit the manual page to include more information such as configuration, notes, etc. it may be a useful reference.

mcadoo300 / EZAlias