aliash

aliash is a Python tool designed to manage and manipulate your .bash_aliases file, as well as handle the bash scripts referenced within it. This tool simplifies the process of managing bash scripts and their corresponding aliases, providing a straightforward interface for creating, editing, and organizing scripts.

Key Features

• Script Management: Easily add, edit, rename, and remove scripts with automatic alias management.
• Alias Management: Keeps your .bash_aliases file organized by linking each script to an alias.
• Configurable Paths: Customize script and alias file locations through command-line options or environment variables.

By default, aliash assumes:

• Script Directory: $HOME/Utilities or as specified by the ALIASH_SCRIPTS_DIR environment variable.
• Alias File: $HOME/.bash_aliases or as specified by the ALIASH_SCRIPTS_FILE environment variable.

You can override these paths at runtime with the --script-dir and --bash-aliases-file arguments.

Usage

Usage: aliash [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  Manage your .bash_aliases with simplicity and ease!

Options:
  --script-dir PATH
  --bash-aliases-file PATH
  --help                    Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  add       Create a new [ALIAS] and put its alias in .bash_aliases
  edit      Edit an [ALIAS] in the script_dir (requires nano)
  find      Find an alias in .bash_aliases using a [TAG]
  help      Display help for an [ALIAS] in .bash_aliases
  remove    Remove an [ALIAS] from .bash_aliases
  rename    Rename an [ALIAS] in .bash_aliases
  show-all  Basically just ls on the script_dir
  test      Test all methods of aliash

Examples

Adding a Script Alias

aliash add helloworld
aliash edit helloworld  # Opens the script in nano for editing
aliash show-all         # Lists all available scripts
source ~/.bashrc        # Reloads the updated bash configuration
helloworld              # Runs the new script

Renaming an Alias

aliash rename helloworld goodbyeworld
aliash show-all
source ~/.bashrc
goodbyeworld  # Runs the renamed script

Removing an Alias

aliash remove goodbyeworld
aliash find world  # Verifies if any alias containing 'world' exists

Environment Variables

You can configure aliash through the following environment variables:

• ALIASH_SCRIPTS_DIR: Directory to store and manage your bash scripts.
• ALIASH_SCRIPTS_FILE: Path to the .bash_aliases file.

Installation

1. Set up a virtual environment and install the project dependencies:

python -m . .aliash
source bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install --editable .
aliash --help

2. Set up environment variables and alias:

After installing the project, add the following to your login profile (e.g., .bashrc or .bash_profile) to ensure aliash is available in all terminal sessions:

# Define the directory where your bash scripts will be stored
ALIASH_SCRIPTS_DIR="$HOME/Utilities"
mkdir -p "$ALIASH_SCRIPTS_DIR/tmp" # for backups 

# Define the path to your .bash_aliases file
ALIASH_SCRIPTS_FILE="$HOME/.bash_aliases"
touch "$ALIASH_SCRIPTS_FILE"

# Set the path to your aliash virtual environment
PATH_TO_ALIASH_VENV="$HOME/aliash/.aliash/"

# Create a shortcut for running aliash
alias aliash='$PATH_TO_ALIASH_VENV/bin/aliash'

3. Reload you shell profile

source ~/.bashrc  # or source ~/.bash_profile

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please fork the repository and submit pull requests. Feel free to open issues for feature requests or bug reports.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Common Issues

Alias file does not exist!

user@pc:~$ aliash add helpme
Usage: aliash [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Try 'aliash --help' for help.

Error: Invalid value for '--bash-aliases-file': Path '/home/user/.bash_aliases' does not exist.

Solution:

touch .bash_aliases