Cmder: create alias with more than one command

[luisrudge]

I'm trying to create an alias like this:

gclean=gclean=git branch --merged | grep -v "\*" | xargs -n 1 git branch -d

The problem is that it only executes the first command. Any thoughts?

[r3Fuze]

Use && instead of |.
You also have gclean= twice. That's probably not intended either.

[luisrudge]

ops, double gclean was wrong :)
Thanks!

[luisrudge]

Sorry, but this doesn't work. I need to pipe one command output to the next command, not simply run all of them.

[r3Fuze]

Oops, my bad.. Misread the question. Not entirely sure how to do what you want, but http://ss64.com/nt/syntax-redirection.html might have what you need.

[luisrudge]

that's exactly the point. This command runs ok on cmder (git branch --merged | grep -v "\*" | xargs -n 1 git branch -d), but if I put this as an alias, it runs just the first command

[jolet]

$T is the command seperator, allowing you to string several commands together into one alias.
For more information, read DOSKEY/?
(https://github.com/cmderdev/cmder/blob/master/bin/alias.bat)

[luisrudge]

Thanks @jolet

[JonathanHolvey]

@luisrudge was there a solution to this in the end? As far as I can tell, none of the methods mentioned here actually allow piped commands in aliases.

[luisrudge]

Nope. $T doesn't work for me.

this works if I type into cmder directly: git branch --merged | grep -v "\*" | grep -v master | grep -v dev | xargs -n 1 git branch -d

but both of these aliases are failing:
gclean=git branch --merged | grep -v "\*" | grep -v master | grep -v dev | xargs -n 1 git branch -d
gclean=git branch --merged $t grep -v "\*" $t grep -v master $t grep -v dev $t xargs -n 1 git branch -d

[VileTouch]

Nope. $T doesn't work for me.

that's because $t is a doskey argument. conemu/cmder's alias doesn't really use doskey at all. so you would have to add it to the init task or put it in a batch file somewhere in your path.

[daxgames]

@viletouch Cmder cmd sessions do indeed use doskey. $T is definitely valid I have several aliases that use it.

@luisrudge your question is misphrased. If you were wanting to concatenate commands $t is the answer. $t is doskey for &.

The question should be how to create alias that uses pipes. Not sure I have ever tried pipes in a doskey alias but you could try escaping the pipes with either a '" or a '^'. Most likely alias.bat can't do this and you would need to manually edit the file.

[VileTouch]

The question should be how to create alias that uses pipes. Not sure I have ever tried pipes in a doskey

doskey ccl="cd|clip" works fine (try it!)

as well as alias ccl="dir|clip" in conemu/cmder. except it doesn't support doskey macros ($t)

in short, wether it uses doskey or not to create the alias, macros (or concatenated commands) doesn't work from the environment page ...yet
eg. alias cd=cd $1$tdir

[JonathanHolvey]

Yes, I can confirm that piping does in fact work in Cmder aliases. The problem I was that I'd put spaces either side of the pipe character. alias history=tac %cmder_root%\config\.history|less works, whereas alias history=tac %cmder_root%\config\.history | less doesn't.

However, the alias has to be created manually using a text editor, otherwise the output of the alias command is piped.

[daxgames]

@viletouch Then why does this work for me:

C:\Users\dgames.DTG\cmder
λ alias test
test=dir $T Dir c:\

C:\Users\dgames.DTG\cmder
λ test
 Volume in drive C is Windows
 Volume Serial Number is 2C73-1044

 Directory of C:\Users\dgames.DTG\cmderdev

03/20/2016  07:59 AM    <DIR>          .
03/20/2016  07:59 AM    <DIR>          ..
11/07/2015  11:01 AM                68 .gitattributes
03/06/2016  06:14 PM               226 .gitignore
03/02/2016  07:21 PM             1,285 appveyor.yml
03/06/2016  06:20 PM    <DIR>          bin
01/04/2016  04:59 PM    <DIR>          build
03/06/2016  06:14 PM               424 Cmder.bat
03/20/2016  08:28 AM    <DIR>          config
11/07/2015  11:01 AM             1,822 CONTRIBUTING.md
11/07/2015  11:01 AM    <DIR>          icons
11/07/2015  11:31 AM    <DIR>          launcher
03/02/2016  07:45 PM               424 MyCmder.cmd
03/02/2016  07:30 PM               302 packignore
03/20/2016  07:58 AM            10,207 README.md
03/06/2016  03:52 PM    <DIR>          scripts
03/20/2016  08:54 AM    <DIR>          vendor
01/04/2016  04:58 PM                 0 Version v1.2.9
               9 File(s)         14,758 bytes
               9 Dir(s)  21,213,876,224 bytes free

 Volume in drive C is Windows
 Volume Serial Number is 2C73-1044

 Directory of c:\

12/05/2015  09:36 AM    <SYMLINK>      .aliases [C:\Users\dgames.DTG\.yadr4win\aliases.doskey]
12/05/2015  09:36 AM    <SYMLINK>      .aliases.sh [C:\Users\dgames.DTG\.yadr4win\aliases.sh]
12/05/2015  09:30 AM    <SYMLINK>      .aliases.sh.yadr4win [C:\Users\dgames.DTG\.yadr4win\aliases.sh]
12/05/2015  09:30 AM    <SYMLINK>      .aliases.yadr4win [C:\Users\dgames.DTG\.yadr4win\aliases.doskey]
08/07/2015  11:16 AM    <DIR>          Firmware
11/25/2015  08:51 AM    <DIR>          git-sdk-64
12/18/2015  09:23 AM    <DIR>          Intel
11/01/2015  09:20 AM             4,256 log.txt
10/30/2015  02:24 AM    <DIR>          PerfLogs
01/04/2016  05:38 PM    <DIR>          Program Files
02/01/2016  08:36 PM    <DIR>          Program Files (x86)
11/16/2015  07:26 PM    <DIR>          recovered
01/04/2016  05:33 PM    <DIR>          tools
12/18/2015  09:26 AM    <DIR>          Users
03/07/2016  09:04 AM    <DIR>          Windows
01/23/2016  12:02 PM    <DIR>          Windows.old
               5 File(s)          4,256 bytes
              11 Dir(s)  21,213,876,224 bytes free

This also works:

C:\Users\dgames.DTG\cmderdev (better_aliases)
λ alias test
test=dir $1 $T Dir c:\

Also if you noticed in my original response I said alias.bat could not handle pipes, "Most likely alias.bat can't do this and you would need to manually edit the file."

[VileTouch]

@daxgames that's... intriguing!

the sintax it accepts is all over the place and more importantly fails silently

it won't accept spaces around the = or | symbols...but it requires spaces around the $t variable (!) while every other variable requires NOT to use spaces other than what the command it is used in requires

thanks dax ,this means a lot of articles and docs need to be updated (no, seriously, try googling that)

[luisrudge]

This doesn't work:
gclean=git branch --merged | grep -v "\*" | grep -v master | grep -v dev | xargs -n 1 git branch -d
gclean=git branch --merged|grep -v "\*"|grep -v master|grep -v dev|xargs -n 1 git branch -d

[daxgames]

Output of 'alias gclean'?

[luisrudge]

fatal: branch name required

[luisrudge]

oh, no. sorry. it actually works! I think this message shows only when I don't have any merged branch. Sorry!

[luisrudge]

This works:

gclean=git branch --merged|grep -v "\*"|grep -v master|grep -v dev|xargs -n 1 git branch -d

[daxgames]

Not what I asked for. Type 'alias gclean[enter]'

On March 21, 2016 3:35:46 PM Luís Rudge [email protected] wrote:

fatal: branch name required

---

You are receiving this because you were mentioned.
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub:
https://github.com/cmderdev/cmder/issues/595#issuecomment-199465875

[luisrudge]

λ alias gclean
Insufficient parameters.
Usage:
        alias name=full command
        $* 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 is the command seperator, allowing you to string several commands together into one alias.
        For more information, read DOSKEY/?

[daxgames]

Oh OK. Glad it's working for you.

[daxgames]

Try the latest development branch of Cmder. 'alias gclean[enter]' should print the contents of the alias.

[daxgames]

Just an fyi at this point.

[AbdelrahmanHafez]

Removing spaces before and after the pipe doesn't solve the problem for me.
@glucas at #632 suggested using $b instead of pipes.
p=ping -t 8.8.8.8|awk '{print $5}'
p=ping -t 8.8.8.8 | awk '{print $5}'
While both of these work normally if manually typed into the command line, they only run the first command when used as aliases.
p=ping -t 8.8.8.8 $b awk '{print $5}'
Gives me Bad parameter awk.

[glucas]

@AbdelrahmanHafez Whitespace is not relevant here -- with doskey macros you need to use $b as the pipe character, otherwise you are just piping the output of 'create an alias for ping -t 8.8.8.8' -- which is nothing.

That said, your example does not work for me either. I just tried a few variations piping output to awk (e.g. even a simple echo) and can't get it to work in an alias. This may be a case where writing a simple bat file and putting it in your path is the way to go.

[Torrents]

TL;DR: awk/gawk not working in aliases is a ConEmu issue, not Cmder issue.

Just a bump to this issue, I can't for the life of me get awk/gawk to work when I add it to the user-aliases.cmd file. It works fine in the cmder terminal, but as an alias it always fails.

awktest=echo first second | awk '{print $1}'
awktest=echo first second $b awk '{print $1}'
awktest=echo first second | gawk '{print $1}'

I created an awktest.txt file with
Physics 80 Math 90 Biology 87 English 85 History 89

and added an alias:
testawk=awk '{print $1}' awktest.txt

My goal was just to create an alias for pruning git branches:
git checkout master && git remote prune origin && git branch -vv | awk '/: gone]/{print $1}' | xargs git branch -d
but I absolutely cannot get awk to work in a cmder alias. I tried with cmder 1.3.5 with ConEmu 180206 preview, and with ConEmu 180626 (64bit) Preview, but got the same results. Just for fun I installed the latest cmder mini 1.3.6.678 with ConEmu 180528 preview and got the same results :(

Conclusion: OK I just tried the same stuff in ConEmu, 180626 and awk doesn't work in those aliases at all. So, not a Cmder issue.

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