This is probably a very simple thing but I can’t find an answer, possibly because I don’t know what terms to use in search.
How do I use an alias of a path with mv or cp? Or even cd?
In /etc/bash.bashrc I have:
alias docs=‘/media/docs
cd docs
Gives “No such file or directory”
Yet:
docs
Gives “Is directory”
With alias docs=‘cd /media/docs’ and by typing docs I get into the directory. Obviously I can’t use that alias with mv or cp though.
Maybe this isn’t even an intended use of alias but still. Why doesn’t it work?


eh, it’s mostly automagic but the first few times you encounter it makes for some fun debugging.
Play around with the
var=$(ls -A)construction a bit and see what is happening with your files.