alias-tips

A Zsh plugin to help remembering those shell aliases and Git aliases you once defined.

Works with Oh My Zsh, Fig, zplug, antigen, zgen, Arch Linux, or pure Zsh.

It works by trying to find an shell or Git alias for the command you are currently executing and printing a help line reminding you about that alias.

The idea is that you might be too afraid to execute aliases defined because you can't remember them correctly, or just have forgotten about some aliases, or that aliases for your daily commands even exist.

Example

$ ls -lh
Alias tip: ll
:

$ git gui
Alias tip: gg
:

$ git rebase --interactive master
Alias tip: grbi master
:

$ git status
Alias tip: g st
:

Installation

Oh My Zsh

1. Get it

   Go to your custom plugins folder:

   cd ${ZSH_CUSTOM1:-$ZSH/custom}/plugins

   Then either clone:

   git clone https://github.com/djui/alias-tips.git

   Or download:

   wget https://github.com/djui/alias-tips/archive/master.zip
   unzip master.zip && mv alias-tips-master alias-tips && rm master.zip

   Or add it as submodule:

   git submodule add https://github.com/djui/alias-tips
   git submodule update --init

2. Include it

   Then add the plugin to your plugin list in oh-my-zsh configuration:

   $EDITOR ~/.zshrc
   
   # -plugins=(...)
   # +plugins=(... alias-tips)

Fig

Fig adds apps, shortcuts, and autocomplete to your existing terminal.

Install alias-tips in just one click.

zplug

1. Add zplug "djui/alias-tips" to your .zshrc
2. Install it with zplug install

Antigen

1. Add antigen bundle djui/alias-tips to your .zshrc with your other antigen bundle commands.

zgen

1. Add zgen load djui/alias-tips to your .zshrc
2. Regenerate your init.zsh with zgen save

Arch Linux

1. Install alias-tips-git from the AUR.

2. Add the following to your .zshrc:

   source /usr/share/zsh/plugins/alias-tips/alias-tips.plugin.zsh

3. Start a new terminal session.

Zsh

1. 1. Get it git clone https://github.com/djui/alias-tips.git ~/.zsh/alias-tips
2. Add source alias-tips/alias-tips.plugin.zsh to your .zshrc.

Usage

After installation re-source your .zshrc.

Customizations

Customize the Output

The help string can be configured exporting an environment variable, e.g. in your .zshrc:

:
export ZSH_PLUGINS_ALIAS_TIPS_TEXT="Alias tip: "
:

Exclude some Aliases

A list of aliases to be excluded from being reminded of can be configured exporting an environment variable of space separated aliases, e.g. in your .zshrc:

:
export ZSH_PLUGINS_ALIAS_TIPS_EXCLUDES="_ ll vi"
:

Disable Command Expansion

If you have several alias, e.g. for different git commands the command get expanded before looking for an alias.

Example:

alias gRv='git remote -v'
alias gR='git remote'

Without the expand option gR -v will execute without a tip, with expand, it will suggest gRv.

If this may not be desired, the behaviour can be disabled by setting the environment variable, e.g. in your .zshrc:

:
export ZSH_PLUGINS_ALIAS_TIPS_EXPAND=0
:

Force Alias Use

If you want to force yourself to use the aliases you set you can enable this option through this environmental variable:

:
export ZSH_PLUGINS_ALIAS_TIPS_FORCE=1
:

This will cause alias-tips to abort the command you have entered if there exists an alias for it.

Reveal Command

If you want to reveal aliased command, e.g. to demonstrate your shell to someone else you can enable this option through this environmental variable:

:
export ZSH_PLUGINS_ALIAS_TIPS_REVEAL=1
:

Use this environmental variable to customize text:

:
export ZSH_PLUGINS_ALIAS_TIPS_REVEAL_TEXT="Alias tip: "
:

And this to exclude some obvious expansions:

:
export ZSH_PLUGINS_ALIAS_TIPS_REVEAL_EXCLUDES=(_ ll vi)
:

Limitations

• Suffix and Global aliases are currently not supported. Only Prefix aliases ("command position") are supported. Check the Zsh manual on alias for their definition.
• Multiline aliases (aliases which definition span multiple lines) are not supported. Currently their first line only will be used (likely incorrectly)

FAQ

Q: Why only Zsh?

A: This works because of feature in Zsh called preexec. Other shells, e.g. Bash, do not have this feature. There are workarounds[1,2] but integrating these is a task left for the reader.

Testing

$ python  -m unittest test_alias-tips
$ python3 -m unittest test_alias-tips

Contributing

See: CONTRIBUTIONS.md.