Creating Permanent Executable Aliases

Creating permanent executable aliases

Add the command to your ~/.bashrc file.

To make it available to all users, add it to /etc/profile.

Aliases in Windows command prompt

To add to josh's answer,

you may make the alias(es) persistent with the following steps,

1. Create a .bat or .cmd file with your DOSKEY commands.

2. Run regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor

3. Add String Value entry with the name AutoRun and the full path of your .bat/.cmd file.

   For example, %USERPROFILE%\alias.cmd, replacing the initial segment of the path with %USERPROFILE% is useful for syncing among multiple machines.

This way, every time cmd is run, the aliases are loaded.

For Windows 10, add the entry to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Command Processor instead.

For completeness, here is a template to illustrate the kind of aliases one may find useful.

@echo off

:: Temporary system path at cmd startup

set PATH=%PATH%;"C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2\"

:: Add to path by command

DOSKEY add_python26=set PATH=%PATH%;"C:\Python26\"
DOSKEY add_python33=set PATH=%PATH%;"C:\Python33\"

:: Commands

DOSKEY ls=dir /B $*
DOSKEY sublime=sublime_text $*  
    ::sublime_text.exe is name of the executable. By adding a temporary entry to system path, we don't have to write the whole directory anymore.
DOSKEY gsp="C:\Program Files (x86)\Sketchpad5\GSP505en.exe"
DOSKEY alias=notepad %USERPROFILE%\Dropbox\alias.cmd

:: Common directories

DOSKEY dropbox=cd "%USERPROFILE%\Dropbox\$*"
DOSKEY research=cd %USERPROFILE%\Dropbox\Research\

---

• Note that the $* syntax works after a directory string as well as an executable which takes in arguments. So in the above example, the user-defined command dropbox research points to the same directory as research.
• As Rivenfall pointed out, it is a good idea to include a command that allows for convenient editing of the alias.cmd file. See alias above. If you are in a cmd session, enter cmd to restart cmd and reload the alias.cmd file.

---

When I searched the internet for an answer to the question, somehow the discussions were either focused on persistence only or on some usage of DOSKEY only. I hope someone will benefit from these two aspects being together here!

---

Here's a .reg file to help you install the alias.cmd. It's set now as an example to a dropbox folder as suggested above.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor]
"AutoRun"="%USERPROFILE%\\alias.cmd"

---

For single-user applications, the above will do. Nevertheless, there are situations where it is necessary to check whether alias.cmd exists first in the registry key. See example below.

In a C:\Users\Public\init.cmd file hosting potentially cross-user configurations:

@ECHO OFF
REM Add other configurations as needed
IF EXIST "%USERPROFILE%\alias.cmd" ( CALL "%USERPROFILE%\alias.cmd" )

The registry key should be updated correspondly to C:\Users\Public\init.cmd or, using the .reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor]
"AutoRun"="C:\\Users\\Public\\init.cmd"

How to alias an executable using Powershell permanently?

You should save your alias in your profile (like in .bashrc in Linux). Hava a look to About_profile to choose your one.

$Profile var gives you the path to your profile file.

It exists 4 different profil files given by :

$profile.AllUsersAllHosts
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\profile.ps1

$profile.AllUsersCurrentHost
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1

$profile.CurrentUserAllHosts
C:\Users\JPB\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1

$profile.CurrentUserCurrentHost
C:\Users\JPB\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1

How to create permanent PowerShell Aliases

UPDATED - January 2021

It's possible to store in a profile.ps1 file any PowerShell code to be executed each time PowerShell starts. There are at least 6 different paths where to store the code depending on which user has to execute it. We will consider only 2 of them: the "all users" and the "only your user" paths (follow the previous link for further options).

To answer your question, you only have to create a profile.ps1 file containing the code you want to be executed, that is:

New-Alias Goto Set-Location

and save it in the proper path:

• "$Home\Documents" (usually C:\Users\<yourname>\Documents): only your user will execute the code. This is the recommended location
  You can quickly find your profile location by running echo $profile in PowerShell
• $PsHome (C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0): every user will execute this code

IMPORTANT: remember you need to restart your PowerShell instances to apply the changes.

TIPS

• If both paths contain a profile.ps1 file, the all-users one is executed first, then the user-specific one. This means the user-specific commands will overwrite variables in case of duplicates or conflicts.

• Always put the code in the user-specific profile if there is no need to extend its execution to every user. This is safer because you don't pollute other users' space (usually, you don't want to do that).
  
  Another advantage is that you don't need administrator rights to add the file to your user-space (you do for anything in C:\Windows\System32).

• If you really need to execute the profile code for every user, mind that the $PsHome path is different for 32bit and 64bit instances of PowerShell. You should consider both environments if you want to always execute the profile code.

  The paths are:

  • C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0 for the 64bit environment
  • C:\Windows\SysWow64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0 for the 32bit one (Yeah I know, the folder naming is counterintuitive, but it's correct).

How do I create a permanent alias file in PowerShell core?

Adding Mathias R. Jessen's comment so that this question has an answer.

"Put them in $profile.AllUsersAllHosts for a default PowerShell 7 on Windows that's C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\profile.ps1" – Mathias R. Jessen

Create alias for a specific command in cmd

You will need to use the doskey command which creates aliases, e.g.:

doskey shortcut=cd /d PATH

or specifically:

doskey pictures=cd /d C:\John\Pictures

Note that you mustn't quote the command like set: the quotes will included both in the macro and the command!

Another way to do that (more complicated) is to create a file named like your shortcut (e.g. pictures.bat) and insider put @cd /d C:\Jogn\Pictures and locate it in C:\Windows\System32 (or else in %windir%\System32; the same thing).

The other way as you mentioned in your comment, is to open cmd with a custom command, e.g. as you mentioned cmd.exe /K doskey pictures=cd /d C:\John\Pictures.

Note that /d option is important if you are in a different drive, so put it always with cd as it is good practice!

How to create permanent PowerShell Aliases

UPDATED - January 2021

It's possible to store in a profile.ps1 file any PowerShell code to be executed each time PowerShell starts. There are at least 6 different paths where to store the code depending on which user has to execute it. We will consider only 2 of them: the "all users" and the "only your user" paths (follow the previous link for further options).

To answer your question, you only have to create a profile.ps1 file containing the code you want to be executed, that is:

New-Alias Goto Set-Location

and save it in the proper path:

• "$Home\Documents" (usually C:\Users\<yourname>\Documents): only your user will execute the code. This is the recommended location
  You can quickly find your profile location by running echo $profile in PowerShell
• $PsHome (C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0): every user will execute this code

IMPORTANT: remember you need to restart your PowerShell instances to apply the changes.

TIPS

• If both paths contain a profile.ps1 file, the all-users one is executed first, then the user-specific one. This means the user-specific commands will overwrite variables in case of duplicates or conflicts.

• Always put the code in the user-specific profile if there is no need to extend its execution to every user. This is safer because you don't pollute other users' space (usually, you don't want to do that).
  
  Another advantage is that you don't need administrator rights to add the file to your user-space (you do for anything in C:\Windows\System32).

• If you really need to execute the profile code for every user, mind that the $PsHome path is different for 32bit and 64bit instances of PowerShell. You should consider both environments if you want to always execute the profile code.

  The paths are:

  • C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0 for the 64bit environment
  • C:\Windows\SysWow64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0 for the 32bit one (Yeah I know, the folder naming is counterintuitive, but it's correct).

How to set aliases in the Git Bash for Windows?

To configure bash aliases, it's the same as if you were on a Unix platform: put them in a .bashrc in your home:

cd
echo alias ll=\'ls -l\' >> .bashrc

To have this change taken into account you should then either source this file (ie: run source .bashrc) or restart your terminal

(In some cases* you can find equivalent for .bashrc file in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\GitHub\PortableGit_\etc\profile.d\aliases.sh. And you should add aliases in aliases.sh.)

(*this case is when you install Git for Windows GUI release from https://git-scm.com/download/win that contains GitBash)

---

Related Topics