Vim Ignores Aliases

Question

If I map a command in vim using something like

map <f4> :! pdflatex %<cr>

Vim will ignore my alias for pdflatex (something like alias pdflatex='pdflatex --temp-dir=something'). Is it possible to make vim not ignore it?

Answer 1

vim 'ignores' your aliases because your shell is not in a 'mood' to parse your .bash_profile/.bashrc (you did not specify, where your aliases are defined) because it is not started as a login/interactive shell (read here to find out more about what is read when and for what reason).

so, you have several options:

1. put the code you use in your 'pdflatex' alias into a script and call that
2. vimrc: 'set shell=/bin/bash\ -l', put your aliases to .bash_profile
3. call your shell as an interactive/login shell :! bash -l -i -e 'pdflatex .'