Cannot call alias within bash script

Question

I have a file called ~/.gotorc and in it I have

alias goto_usr="cd /usr"
alias goto_bin="cd /user/local/bin"

Then in my .zshrc I have

source ~/.gotorc
goto() {
    `goto_$1`
}

But when I run goto bin, it says goto:bin: command not found: goto_bin. But if I run goto_bin then it works and I go to the expected folder.

How come?

.zshrc is used with zsh, not bash. You want to use .bashrc instead. — chepner
– chepner, Commented Oct 14, 2016 at 20:08

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-14 20:08:52Z

2

Instead of aliases you can define a single function goto like this:

goto() {
    case "$1" in
       usr)
       cd /usr;;
       bin)
       cd /usr/local/bin;;
    esac
}

Then use it as:

goto usr
goto bin

answered Oct 14, 2016 at 20:08

anubhava

790k67 gold badges603 silver badges671 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Answer 1