CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bashssh
0xSina
0xSina

Reputation: 21553

alias parameter not working

I am trying to make it easier to use scp so I learned about alias today, and I am using it like this:

alias loudie-scp="scp -i keys/aws.pem $1 [email protected]:/home/ec2-user"

the $1 is there to specify the file i want to transfer over. However this is not working and giving me an error:

scp: /home/ec2-user: not a regular file

This does not happen when I execute this command manually passing in any file for $1.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 527

Answers (3)

Kevin
Kevin

Reputation: 56059

As I'm sure Ignacio's link will explain, an alias does nothing more than textually expand the alias to its value. It does not take arguments, you need to use a function for that.

Upvotes: 0

mjgpy3
mjgpy3

Reputation: 8937

Unfortunately BASH aliases are kind of like find-and-replace -- they're not very powerful for the sort of task you describe. I would suggest using, instead, a script file and placing it in an executable directory; something like so:

#!/bin/bash
scp -i keys/aws.pem $1 [email protected]:/home/ec2-user

Then, given that it has the name loudie-scp you could call it like so:

loudie-scp <parameter>

Upvotes: 0

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

Reputation: 798566

BASH FAQ entry #80: "How can I make an alias that takes an argument?"

Upvotes: 4

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