Passing parameters to an alias in ksh ...under AIX

The Grey Wolf greywolf at unisoft.UUCP
Thu Dec 13 12:52:31 AEST 1990


In article <1235 at lafayet.UUCP> rob at lafayet.UUCP (Rob Freyder) writes:
>I am trying to pass a parameter to an alias under AIX on the RS6000.
>I would like to set up an alias that will take a directory name as an 
>argument and then print that in the title of my X window.  I am not having
>trouble changing the title ... that is a simple escape sequence.
>
>My Problem is that I cant get the alias to accept a parameter.  I am using
>$1 to reference the first parameter... Is this correct ?
>
>Thanks.  Rob.

You don't use aliases for this under ksh -- you use functions, like so:
foo()
{
	if [ "$1" = "bar" ] ; then
	    echo "and grill :-)"
        fi
}

The positional parameters are interpreted in the context of the function;
that is, none of the original "$@" is visible to the function unless ex-
plicitly passed.

If your ksh doesn't support functions it is most distinctly broken.

[ I use ksh only when csh is not available.  Having to type "fg %2" is
  a minor annoyance.  Not having the set notation (such as {cat,man,do}_box
  expanding to cat_box man_box do_box) is a major annoyance.  The command
  line editing is cute, but my fingers can figure out csh history quicker.
  The delays in ksh due to overhead in the shell (as compared to csh's
  overhead) are just noticeable enough to be a nuisance.  Beats the HELL
  out of sh, though. ]
>-- 
> ____    ____     ____                       Core Lab - Western Atlas Int'l INC
> \   \  /   /\   /    \     Rob              Humans     (318) 235-9431
>  \   /   /\  \/   /\  \    Freyder          Internet   rob at lafayet.waii.com
>   \/___/   \/___/   \__\                    Bang    ...!uunet!lafayet!rob


-- 
On the 'Net:  Why are more and more fourth-level wizard(-wannabe)s trying to
invoke ninth-level magic, instead of taking the time to climb the other
(quite essential) thirteen levels so they can do this properly?
...!{ucbvax,acad,uunet,amdahl,pyramid}!unisoft!greywolf



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