Thanks for that. It is certainly confusing that you can do "alias -p" inside the compound statement and have it print out the alias you think you have defined, but not have it work. But given that bit of the manual, I can see why that would be.
On Sat, 2024-10-12 at 15:18 -0400, Chet Ramey wrote: > On 10/12/24 9:31 AM, i...@beware.dropbear.id.au wrote: > > > Bash Version: 5.2 > > Patch Level: 26 > > Release Status: release > > > > Description: > > > > In the following script, the first alias fails with "comand not found" > > but the second works. > > This is covered in the manual (bash.1): > > Bash > always reads at least one complete line of input, > and all lines that make up a compound command, > before executing any of the commands on that line or the compound command. > Aliases are expanded when a command is read, not when it is executed. > Therefore, an > alias definition appearing on the same line as another > command does not take effect until the shell reads the next line of input, > and an alias definition in a compound command does not take > effect until the shell parses and executes the entire compound command. > The commands following the alias definition > on that line, > or in the rest of a compound command, > are not affected by the new alias. > This behavior is also an issue when functions are executed. > Aliases are expanded when a function definition is read, > not when the function is executed, because a function definition > is itself a command. > As a consequence, aliases > defined in a function are not available until after that > function is executed. > > > > -- > ``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer > ``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates > Chet Ramey, UTech, CWRU c...@case.edu http://tiswww.cwru.edu/~chet/
