How do I make this an alias?

[xircon]

Works from the command prompt:

bat `find ~/.updates/  -print | tail -n2`

Fails from an alias. Should cat the last two files in the directory:

alias last2="bat $(find ~/.updates/  -print | tail -n2)"

last2
───────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
       │ File: /home/xircon/.updates/2022-01-21T08:12
───────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
   1   │ deadbeef-git r10768.a3f57752a-1 -> r10769.9f221c9a3-1
   2   │ npm 8.3.1-1 -> 8.3.2-1
   3   │ qt5-quickcontrols2 5.15.2+kde+r9-1 -> 5.15.2+kde+r10-1
   4   │ rust 1:1.58.0-1 -> 1:1.58.1-1
───────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
zsh: permission denied: /home/xircon/.updates/2022-01-21T18:54

Bat is a fancy cat alternative

[KDen]

I’m not an expert but doesn’t the $ symbol indicate a variable? Why did you change it from the working command?
Shouldn’t it just be this?

alias last2='bat `find ~/.updates/  -print | tail -n2`'

[dalto]

@KDen

I’m not an expert but doesn’t the $ symbol indicate a variable?

$(command) indicates that the command should be run.

[keybreak]

No it’s bash flavored expansion

$(command)

is exactly the same as POSIX

`command`

[KDen]

It looks like he’s using zsh right? Does a bash expansion work in zsh?

[dalto]

@KDen

Does a bash expansion work in zsh?

That one does. zsh supports that syntax as well.

[xircon]

Will look into it, @KDen back ticks equals $(), I tried it both ways just in case then forgot about it as it made no difference (age!!!)

[KDen]

Is the file it’s failing out on a symlink? maybe that has something to do with it?

[xircon]

Nope. Everytime I update, I output checkupdates+aur to a file in the ~/.updates/ directory. I can script my way out of it but just couldn’t understand why the one-liner would not work as an alias.

[KDen]

I installed bat and gave it a try. Here’s some info that might help.
I got the same result. Worked directly from the command line but permission denied as an alias.

However, I tried it in Fish Shell and it works. Aliases in Fish Shell are actually functions. So that got me looking.
From my understanding zsh and bash alias are a bit more limiting than other shells

https://scriptingosx.com/2017/05/configuring-bash-with-aliases-and-functions/

Aliases will only be replaced at the beginning of the command prompt. Also additional arguments will be appended after the replacement.If you need to insert additional arguments somewhere in the replacement, you cannot achieve that with aliases.

So you need to create a function instead of an alias

function last2() {
	bat $(find ~/.updates/  -print | tail -n2)
}

[freebird54]

Gone when needed… - do it as a function…much more reliable and simpler!

[manuel]

Also this seems to work:

alias last2='find ~/.updates | tail -n2 | bat'

[vlkon]

@KDen

function instead of an alias

When you have function it is easy to turn it into an alias.

alias mcd='function _mcd(){ mkdir -p "$1"; cd "$1"; };_mcd '    # create a directory and cd into it

alias last2='function _last2(){ bat $(find ~/.updates/ -print | tail -n2); }; _last2 '

Is that more useful than just calling a function? Well,…

[Kresimir]

But… why?

[vlkon]

Can you not see the beauty in that?
The OP question was how to make an alias. So here it is.