How to add system alias?

Question

I have this alias in my .zshrc:

alias grim='gvim --remote'

But this is not seen from ranger file manager, I believe that ranger runs a 'generic' shell skipping my .zshrc. I want to make this alias visible in every shell.

I added it to ~/.profile and to /etc/zsh/zshrc but no effect. To be specific a got this message:

/bin/sh: grim: not found

Solution 1

Only interactive shells read a file that may contain alias definitions. If you want to use a nickname for a command in shell snippets executed by applications, an alias is not the right tool. Instead, write a wrapper script like this:

#!/bin/sh
gvim --remote "$@"

Call it ~/bin/grim and make it executable. Make sure you have ~/bin in your PATH (you can put the script in any other directory that's in your PATH).

If you want it to work for every user on the system, put it in /usr/local/bin instead, ensuring that that directory is in everyone's PATH.

Solution 2

You can create a file alias.sh in /etc/profile.d directory

Write the line

alias grim='gvim --remote'

inside that file alias.sh

This will create a system-wide customization.

Instead of alias.sh you can use any other filename ending with .sh

Comments

[Bernhard]

Can you give details about your shell?

[i31nGo]

Did you restart the shell or source the appropriate config?

[xliiv]

I use zsh. I have the alias in my .zshrc and it works. But this is not seen from ranger file manager, I believe that ranger runs a 'generic' shell skipping my .zshrc. To test my actions I open new terminal (by gnome-terminal), is it enough?

[xliiv]

Any name for file in /etc/profile.d is acceptable?

[pradeepchhetri]

@xliiv: yes name will work.

[xliiv]

Alias from /etc/profile.d/name doensn't work either in bash or sh. :/

[Jortstek]

Clever. And in the config folder, so not a hack in theory.