How can I alias `...` to `../..` in Bash?

Question

How can I alias ... to ../.. in Bash?

I am aware that other answers allow alias '...'='cd ../..' but I'd like to be able to address the directory two levels up with other commands, allowing for:

cd ...
ls ...
realpath ...

I have tried alias '...'='../..' but when trying to use this I get the following:

$ alias '...'='../..'
$ type ...
... is aliased to `../..'
$ cd ...
bash: cd: ...: No such file or directory

this question fits better on https://superuser.com or https://unix.stackexchange.com — hanshenrik, May 16 '23 at 13:09
Cross-posted on https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/746047/how-can-i-alias-to-in-bash — Anil, May 25 '23 at 08:45

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 16 '23 at 13:00

2

You can define functions, example for cd:

cd() { [[ $1 == ... ]] && command cd ../.. || command cd "$@"; }

You can put it in ~/.bashrc and source it: source ~/.bashrc

answered May 16 '23 at 13:00

Gilles Quénot

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 16 '23 at 13:08

Gilles answer allows you to apply ... by checking if the first param equals ... and then hardcoding the paramter.

You could reverse the command, where you pass the command you wish to run with ../..:

function ...() {
    [[ -z "$1" ]] && printf "No command given\n" && return 0;
    $@ ../..
}

Usage:

... cd
... ls -lta

How can I alias `...` to `../..` in Bash?

2 Answers2