Re: Expanding aliases to full command before execution

[Linda Walsh]

jrrandall@gmail.com wrote:

> function expand_alias()                 # expand an alias to full command
> {
>     if [ "$1" = "." ]; then
>         argument="\\$1"
>     else
>         argument="$1"
>     fi
>     match=$( alias -p | grep -w "alias $argument=" )
>     if [ -n "$match" ]; then
>         expanded="`echo $match | sed -e s/[^=]*=// | sed 's/^.\(.*\).$/\1/'`"
>     else
>         expanded="$1"
>     fi
> }
---

I could see this being an option, because I can think of times I might want one 
or the other...

I might want to know exactly what I typed, (if only to remind me to use an alias 
for some long string and save on RSHP (Repetitive-Stress Hit-Points);

But at the same time it would be useful to know what alias(es) were in effect
at the time... (if only the alias was listed!)

so maybe a literal version, followed by (for lines that were 'expanded' by:

        "[" <literal expansion> "]"

Of course the same problem arises with 'functions' as they are said to replace 
aliases in _almost_ every situation.  I.e. do you really want your history file
to be different depending on whether you did
        alias ll=ls\ -l
or
        function ll { ls -l "$@"}
??
Wouldn't they have a similar effect on the accuracy of your record?

Of course, then my idea of literal expansion would get very messy... providing
a practical reason to not do it for functions... (depends on what your 
requirements are )... ;-)