Quick Directory Aliases

Enables quick directory aliases and navigation. Allows for easy and consistent navigation between disparate directories.

Table of Contents

Installation
Usage
Autocomplete
Supported Environments
Implementation Details
License

Installation

1. Download the script
2. Source the script into your current shell (add this to your shell startup script to always have the command available)
3. Done

Quick setup commands

Note: Before running the following, change RC_FILE to match your preferred shell's rc file, or any other file that you source when a new shell/terminal is created.

RC_FILE=~/.bashrc
SCRIPT_DIRECTORY=~/scripts

mkdir -p $SCRIPT_DIRECTORY
wget -O $SCRIPT_DIRECTORY/quick-directory-aliases.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mcwoodle/shell-directory-management/master/quick-directory-aliases.sh
printf "\n. $SCRIPT_DIRECTORY/quick-directory-aliases.sh\n" >> $RC_FILE
. $RC_FILE

The default name for the command is "d". Edit the quick-directory-aliases.sh script and change the function name d() to a name of your choosing.

Usage

Add an alias

% cd /any/really/long/or/short/directory/path/thats/hardoreasy/to/remember
% d + shortAliasName

Note: changes take effect immediately across terminals/shells.

Navigate to an alias

% d shortAliasName

% pwd
/any/really/long/or/short/directory/path/thats/hardoreasy/to/remember

Remove an alias

% d - shortAliasName

See all aliases

% d
workspace = /home/mcwoodle/workspaces/someWorkspaceDirectory
bin = /usr/bin
nhl = /home/mcwoodle/go/leafs/go

Autocomplete

Autocomplete is currently only supported using bash and zsh (or any script supporting complete\compgen or compctl built-ins).

Installation is automatic and works like any other bash/zsh tab based autocomplete.

Using with ssh to have your list of aliases available anywhere (not yet implemented)

If you're like me and work with a lot of remote servers, you could use something along the lines of:

ssh -t <user>@<hostname> "someScriptOrCommands_ToLoadMapFileAndSourceScript; zsh"

to push the ~/.dmap file along with the above script in order to get all of your aliases available remotely no matter which host you sign in to.

I have yet to implement this solution yet, but it's on my todo list. If you get to it first, please let me know your approach. Thanks!

Supported Environments

This script uses standard sh and will work with any POSIX compliant shell. It's been tested with sh, bash, ksh, zsh, dash and been used on macOS, RHEL5, Ubuntu, and Bash on Ubuntu on Windows.

C shell, tcsh/csh, are not POSIX compliant and therefore not supported.

ksh on Bash On Ubuntu On Windows, along with being a mouthful, does not work due to a "cannot create pipe [Operation not permitted]" error when piping output to sed.

Autocomplete only works on bash and zsh.

Implementation Details

• The script is sourced into your current working shell, allowing it to issue change directory commands within your shell.
• A function will be defined named 'd' in the current shell's context. If there is an alias with this name it will be removed.
• It creates and uses a ~/.dmap file to store a map of aliases to directories.
• This map file can easily be edited manually (e.g. bulk renaming).

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.