How can I alias to `!!` (last command)?

Question

!! in bash runs last command. I find it too difficult to type given how much I use it. alias to the rescue, I presumed.

Or not. I tried:

$ alias dl='!!'               # Aliasing
$ echo Testing123             # Here's something to test on
Testing123
$ dl                          # Testing alias
bash: !!: command not found
$                             # I AM DISAPPOINT

Without quotes also fails.

What's up?

Solution

alias dl='fc -s'

See http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Bash-History-Builtins

Comments

[Владислав Щербин]

Works! Still curious though: What makes !! un-aliasable?

[Angel Todorov]

I can't find anything quickly in the manual but I'm guessing that bash performs any history expansions before substituting aliases. So the shell only sees the command "!!" which clearly doesn't exist.