How do I close an OS X application from the command line using a alias defined in my .bash_profile?

Question

I found the following shell script that can be used to tell an OS X application to quit:

#!/bin/sh

echo | osascript <<EOF
tell application "$*"
  quit
end tell
EOF

I have several simple alias commands in my .bash_profile and would like to add a "quit" command there instead of using this script. I created the following, but it doesn't work:

alias quit='osascript -e "quit application \"$1\""' 

I'm sure I've munged the command. Any advice?

Answer 1

Use a function instead:

alias quit=_quit
function _quit
{
osascript <<EOF
tell application "$*"
  quit
end tell
EOF
}

Answer 2

Aliases can't have parameters. Aliases do a strict text substitution, where 'parameters' would kind of end up at the end.

I'd do a function, which can have parameters.

function quit
{
    if [ $# -ne 0 ]; then
        echo "usage: quit _appname_" >&2
        return
    fi
echo | osascript <<EOF
tell application "$1"
  quit
end tell
EOF
}

Sorry, but I can't test this and verify today (no Mac), but the idea would work as a function.