Cmder Aliases

Cmder Aliases a.k.a Doskey

What is 'Doskey'

Doskey is a feature of the Windows cmd.exe shell that provides a way to create alias like functionality of Bash shells.

Microsoft documentation for Doskey can be found here.

Cmder Default Doskey Configuration

Cmders default Doskey configuration is created in %cmder_root%\config\user_aliases.cmd the first time you run Cmder.

Adding Aliases

You can add aliases using the alias command. Aliases added using the alias command will be immediately available and persist across Cmder sessions.

Syntax:

C:\Users\user\cmder dev(tilde -> origin)$ alias /?
Usage:

  alias [options] [alias=alias command]

Options:

  Note: Options MUST precede the alias definition.

  /d [alias]     Delete an [alias].
  /f [macrofile] Path to the [macrofile] you want to store the new alias in.
                 Default: C:\Users\user\cmder dev\config\user_aliases.cmd
  /reload        Reload the aliases file.  Can be used with /f argument.
                 Default: C:\Users\user\cmder dev\config\user_aliases.cmd

 If alias is called with no parameters, it will display the list of existing
 aliases.

 In the alias command, you can use the following notations:

 ^^^^% - % signs in env vars must be escaped if preserving the variable
         in he alias is desired. Variables in aliases surrounded by double
         quotes only require '^%' vs '^^^^%'
 $*    - allows the alias to assume all the parameters of the supplied
         command.
 $1-$9 - Allows you to seperate parameter by number, much like %1 in
         batch.
 $T    - Command seperator, allowing you to string several commands
         together into one alias.

 For more information, read DOSKEY /?

Complex Alias Examples

Type myorigin in Cmder to open a web browser to a Github repositories configured origin repo url.

Alias Definition

alias myorigin=git remote -v $b grep origin $b head -n 1 $b cut -f 2 $b cut -d ' ' -f 1 $g ^^^^%temp^^^^%\repo.tmp $t unix2dos ^^^^%temp^^^^%\repo.tmp 2$lnull $t sleep 1 $t set /p x=$l^^^^%temp^^^^%\repo.tmp $t start /b ^^^^%x^^^^%

What myorigin Really Does

git remote -v | grep origin | head -n 1 | cut -f 2 | cut -d ' ' -f 1 > %temp%\repo.tmp & unix2dos %temp%\repo.tmp 2>null & sleep 1 & set /p x=<%temp%\repo.tmp & start /b %x%