Alias Command for Windows

Question

While at work, I want to use the CLI to be more productive on my Windows machine. What command, in Windows, would be a replacement for the alias command?

Answer 1

doskey com=a long command $*

Here $* expands to everything typed after com. For example, com Hi! would be expanded to a long command Hi!

• This not limited to the cmd.exe shell – it works with any program that uses a Win32 console window. (For example, for Python's interactive shell, use doskey /exefile:python.exe ...)

See doskey /? for usage. The aliases can also be added programatically; see Console Aliases for the API.

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To apply aliases automatically whenever cmd.exe is launched:

1. Put them in a text file, in the form alias=expansion:

   com=very long example command
   cd=cd /d $*
   

   I keep my aliases in %AppData%\doskey.txt.

2. Create a batch script containing the doskey command:

   @echo off
   
   doskey /macrofile:"%AppData%\doskey.txt"
   

   Of course, point /macrofile to the location you have chosen in step 1.

   A good name for this script is %AppData%\autorun.cmd.

3. In Registry, open key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor and point the value AutoRun to the script.

   1. Run regedit, navigate to the given key.
   2. If a value named AutoRun does not exist, create it: right-click → New → String
   3. Modify the associated data to point to wherever your autorun script from #2 is located.

Answer 2

I assume you mean the "alias" command. Dos/NT command prompts support "alias" as a command with the following syntax:

alias

See the wikipedia article for details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alias_(command)