Life is short, bash commands should be too

July 2021 • 1 min read

As a person that likes to maximise my output and minimise the input required, I don’t like having to type and re-type all my bash commands repeatedly during the day. Thankfully, I can create aliases on my machine that shorten them.

These are my favourite:

	# Git command shortcuts
	alias gcam="git commit -am"
	alias dcu="docker-compose up"
	alias dcd="docker-compose down"
	alias dcl="docker-compose logs -f"
	alias dc="docker container"
	alias gpo="git push origin"
	alias gcm="git checkout master"

	function merge_into_dev() {
	branch=$(git symbolic-ref --short -q HEAD)
	git checkout dev && git pull origin dev && git merge $branch
	git push origin dev
	}

	function checkout_master() {
	git checkout master
	git pull origin master
	}

	function pull_master () {
	git pull origin master
	}

	function get_branch() {
	git branch \| grep "*" \| cut -d" " -f2
	}

	# AWS commands
	function run_ssm() {
	REGION=$2
	aws ssm start-session --target $1 --region=$REGION
	}

view raw .bash_profile hosted with ❤ by GitHub

I especially like the functions because I can shorten long commands that have variable input. e.g. to start an ssm session, I just have to type:

run_ssm <instance-id> <region>

My second favourite thing is being able to combine two shortened commands. e.g.

# old - git push origin chore/do-some-amazing-thing-with-code
gpo `get_branch`

How to use (OS X)

Open your .bash_profile file
```
 nano ~/.bash_profile
```
Paste any of the commands in and save it
Update the shell session with the new content
```
 source ~/.bash_profile
```

I will add more commands to the gist as the need for them comes along. Feel free to add your favourites to the gist too!

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Life is short, bash commands should be too

How to use (OS X)

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