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https://github.com/jonasbn/macaliaser

script for building bash aliases for applications on MacOS
https://github.com/jonasbn/macaliaser

aliases bash macos osx perl shell tool

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script for building bash aliases for applications on MacOS

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README 

        
# macaliaser



macaliaser - script to create aliases for applications on OSX / MacOS



# FEATURES



- generation of aliases MacOS applications for shell use

- black listing og applications for alias generation



# SYNOPSIS



    # Generate aliases in /Applications directory

    $ macaliaser -i /Applications



    # Generate aliases in /Applications directory and Applications directory in users home directory

    $ macaliaser -i /Applications $HOME/Applications



    # help message

    $ macaliaser -h



    # Serialize the generated aliases to a file in you home directory

    $ macaliaser -i /Applications > ~/.aliases



# DESCRIPTION



This script create aliases from all the applications in the directories you scan.



The recommended usage is to put the aliases in a separate file and use

the from you preferred shell.



I have the following line in my `.bash_profile`



    source "$HOME/.aliases"



So the script can proces the file with out conflicting with other `bash`

settings, apart from the `.bash_profile` change, I have added the

following line to my `crontab`



    0 12 * * 1 $HOME/bin/macaliaser -i /Applications/ \

    $HOME/Applications/ > $HOME/.aliases



Do note that `cron` is not necessarily running under the same shell as the user

so in order to get a proper path set for useful alias suggestions, you might have

to tweak the environment and emulate a user shell session, like so:



    0 12 * * 1 . $HOME/.bash_profile; $HOME/bin/macaliaser -i /Applications/ \

    $HOME/Applications/ > $HOME/.aliases



This sources the shell (bash in this case) resource file prior to execution.

See [Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2229825/where-can-i-set-environment-variables-that-crontab-will-use)



### Black Listing



You can enable black listing of applications by adding a file named:

`blacklist` to `$HOME/.config/macaliaser/blacklist` like this example:



    /Users/jonasbn/Applications/Chrome Apps.localized/Default \

    pjkljhegncpnkpknbcohdijeoejaedia.app



Do note that the spaces are not escaped.



## OPTIONS



- -i (index)



    This indexes the directories listed after `--` or provided as arguments to `-i`



- -v (verbosity)



    This outputs informative messages to `STDERR` so you can filter it from the generated

    data, which is printed to `STDOUT`



# FUNCTIONS



## is\_app



This checks whether a file has a name in the format:



    «name».app



Do note that names can contain spaces and this is handled.



If this is true it processes the entry further SEE **suggest**.



## suggest



**suggest** suggest different aliases for your applications, each

suggestion is tested for existance by **is\_cmd**, which relies on [File::Which](https://metacpan.org/pod/File::Which),

so we do not overrule any existing commands (like `mail`).



The tries are done in the following order:



1. lowercase, name without .app extension, example: `imovie`

2. lowercase, name with .app extension, example: `mailapp`

3. uppercased first letter with .app extension

4. the original name



## cmd\_exist



**cmd\_exists** check whether there already is a command with the

suggested alias in path.



This uses [File::Which](https://metacpan.org/pod/File::Which)'s `which` subroutine, which works like the shell command <which>



## create\_alias



**create\_alias** is used to create the actual alias, based on the suggestions

from **suggest**.



Alias are actually just strings in the form of:



    alias somealias="open -a /some/path/to/an/app"



# REFERENCES



- [MetaCPAN: File::Which](https://metacpan.org/pod/File::Which)

- [MacOS man page: open command](https://developer.apple.com/legacy/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/open.1.html)

- [MacOS man page: bash, contains information on alias command](https://developer.apple.com/legacy/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/bash.1.html)



# ISSUE REPORTING



# AUTHOR



- jonasbn 



# DEVELOPMENT



If you want to contribute to `macaliaser` please read the [Contribution guidelines](https://github.com/jonasbn/macaliaser/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)

and follow [the pull request guidelines](https://github.com/jonasbn/macaliaser/blob/master/.github/PULL_TEMPLATE.md).



# COPYRIGHT



macaliaser is (C) 2004-2018 Jonas B. Nielsen (jonasbn)



# LICENSE



macaliaser is free software and is released under the Artistic

License 2.0.