Aliases in .bash_profile not working properly [closed] - macos

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I have been trying to alter the .bash_profile that is in my root directory, but have been running into some problems. I am on OS X, Yosemite, on a Macbook Pro. As I understand it, the .bash_profile file contains the script that is called automatically whenever the Terminal app is opened and the bash shell starts.
This is what I currently have written in that file:
PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:${PATH}"
export PATH
This works perfectly fine. However, I want to add an alias (right underneath the above two lines) as follows:
alias test='cd ..'
However, when I save this and start up the Terminal, I get the following message:
-bash: alias: ..": not found
Replacing the single quotes with double quotes doesn't help, nor does taking them away altogether. Curiously however, the following alias works:
alias c=clear
When I type c into the terminal, it clear the screen, as you would expect. However, if I instead entered this line with quotes in the bash profile as:
alias c='clear'
Then I will get the following whenever I enter c into the Terminal:
-bash: 'clear': command not found
Note that I do not get an error message on startup for this alias.
What am I doing wrong? Is there a setting I need to change somewhere to get aliases to work properly? I have seen previous examples of aliases and they simply do not work for me.

Answer 1

It looks like shell is not accessing your .bash_profile when logging via terminal.
.bash_profile is a config file of bash shell. When bash shell starting, shell will execute the commands in .bash_profile. But there are many kinds of shells, and different shells execute different config file.
Terminal is a software to receive user input, shell will execute commands.You can use cat /etc/shells to list acceptable shells. For example：
$ cat /etc/shells
/bin/bash
/bin/csh
/bin/ksh
/bin/sh
/bin/tcsh
/bin/zsh
The default shell is bash shell on Mac OX. But if you have installed zsh, the default shell is zsh, when zsh shell starting, shell will find out the file named .zshrc, and execute the commands in .zshrc.
You can use echo $SHELL to determine the current shell:
$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash
-> echo $SHELL
/bin/zsh
If your default shell is zsh, .bash_profile don't work. The config file of zsh is .zshrc. And I guess your problem is that your default shell is not bash shell. For example, if your default shell is zsh, you should config the .zshrc , just add
PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:${PATH}"
export PATH
or other config to ~/.zshrc.
Then source ~/.zshrc, and the config will work immediately.

Answer 2

Wrapping the command with double quotation worked for me. I was trying with every possible way mentioned in this thread and none of them worked. Then I replaced single quote to double and that worked.
alias mysql_start="sudo /path/to/server/mysql.server start"

Answer 3

For me, it didn't work in the same terminal. I had to open a new one to get it work.

Answer 4

The killer for me was space and single quotes.
alias test="cd .." worked.
Don't put any spaces between alias_name=

Answer 5

User level 'system' files need to contain 'plain text'. How to set/configure this for your 'editor-of-choice' can vary (I don't use a Mac so I'm not much help with that.) Soo,
create your profile 'from the shell' by appending lines directly, i.e. remove the 'bad lines and then:
echo "some command string" >> ~/path/bash_profile
use 'vi' or 'vim' ## should be 'safe'
review your file via:
cat -v ~/path/bash_profle | more ## see any 'funny chars'? or
cat -ve ~/path/bash_profle | more ## see any 'funny chars'? or
or
vi ~/path/bash_profle # then set 'control codes' to 'on'
set list ## see any 'funny chars' for your 'quotes'?

Answer 6

What I realised is that Mac has option for smart quotes and dashes.
alias ..='cd ../' is different from alias ..=‘cd ../‘, where the former works but the latter doesn't.

Answer 7

You can run alias custom auto startup in ~/.bash_profile or ~/.alias_file... by paste file name alias in ~/.bashrc if you use bash or ~/.zshrc if you use zsh.
Ex:
if [ -s ~/.bash_profile ]; then
source ~/.bash_profile;
fi

Answer 8

I fixed this by editing my .bash_profile in vim or nano something about text edited messed it up unsure why.
I tried to edit in in notepad just using "open .bash_profile" however something about the symbols translated wrong. So you have to either "vim .bash_profile" or "nano .bash_profile"
Doing this corrected this problem for me.

Answer 9

Make sure that the alias commands are together in the .bash_profile too. That is what was wrong with mine.
Also, if you just type in alias in the terminal, it should list all the known alias commands, so if you don't see your command you know something is wrong.

Answer 10

If alias is not recognizing, first identify what shell you're using when you open up your terminal or commandlineprompt echo $SHELL. For me it's /bin/bash so i'll input my aliases in ~/.bash_profile
Take note, the file ~/.bash_profile can store both aliases to call out during a terminal session and autorun those same aliases upon opening up a terminal session. The example below would be to open up a file to edit by text via vim-software. You may change it other text-editors as you wish. You can see the difference by closure-method.
ALIAS CALLOUT (uses parenthesis)
alias editbp="vim ~/.bash_profile"
ALIAS AUTORUN (uses tilda)
alias editbp=`vim ~/.bash_profile`