This is probably a very simple thing but I can’t find an answer, possibly because I don’t know what terms to use in search.

How do I use an alias of a path with mv or cp? Or even cd?

In /etc/bash.bashrc I have: alias docs=‘/media/docs

cd docs Gives “No such file or directory”

Yet: docs Gives “Is directory”

With alias docs=‘cd /media/docs’ and by typing docs I get into the directory. Obviously I can’t use that alias with mv or cp though.

Maybe this isn’t even an intended use of alias but still. Why doesn’t it work?

  • TwistedTree@piefed.social
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    9 hours ago

    eh, it’s mostly automagic but the first few times you encounter it makes for some fun debugging.

    Play around with the var=$(ls -A) construction a bit and see what is happening with your files.