Alias that allows to edit ~/.bashrc and then “sources” it automatically - Why it doesn't work?

Question

I use MacBook Air with OSX 10.7.2.

I would like to create an alias that does the following:

Opens TextMate with ~/.bashrc and allows me to edit it
Once I close TextMate, "sources" ~/.bashrc (so if I add a new alias, for example, it will be available immediately)

I tried the following:

alias b="/usr/bin/mate -w ~/.bashrc; source ~/.bashrc"

but it doesn't work: when I close TextMate, the shell doesn't return (I don't see the shell prompt).

Any ideas?

Well, I tested on 10.6 with TextMate 1.5.10 (latest, afaik). Maybe you found a bug? Am I reading this right, your shell just does not work anymore?
Once you solve the non-returning shell issue, you may want to put an unalias -a command before the source command in the definition so any deletions you make in the editor will be reflected in the current shell's new alias set. F/ex, if you found you'd accidentally made a dangerous alias and you use your b alias to edit it out, the present definition would leave the bad alias in the current shell, waiting to bite you.

Mats Ekberg · Answer 1 · 2011-11-22 22:18:17Z

up vote 0 down vote

I don't have TextMate, but using your example with emacs works as expected. Possibly a problem with TextMate? Could you try another editor?

answered Nov 22 '11 at 22:18

	It definitely works with TextMate, I just tried it exactly as written in the question. I presume it's a syntax error in `bashrc`. – slhck Nov 22 '11 at 22:19
	There is no error in `~/.bashrc`. I deleted it completely, and put only the one line above. I tried to do the same with emacs: `/usr/bin/emacs ~/.bashrc; source ~/.bashrc` (no `-w` here), and it works as expected. – Misha Moroshko Nov 22 '11 at 22:54

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