Is it possible for bash to find commands in a case-insensitive way?
eg. these command lines will always run python:
python
Python
PYTHON
pyThoN
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22^6 aliases for python. 2^4 for bash. 2^(len(filename)) for how many other programs? and then copy those aliases to every other system you use. I recommend just accepting the fact that unix filesystems are case-sensitive and learning to type (with tab-completion) the correct command name. some things aren't problems and don't need to be solved.cas– cas2016-05-30 00:35:15 +00:00Commented May 30, 2016 at 0:35
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1 Answer
One way is to use alias shell builtin, for example:
alias Python='python'
alias PYTHON='python'
alias Python='python'
alias pyThoN='python'
For a better approach, the command_not_found_handle() function can be used as described in this post: regex in alias.
For instance, this will force all the commands to lowercase:
command_not_found_handle() {
LOWERCASE_CMD=$(echo "$1" | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]')
shift
command -p $LOWERCASE_CMD "$@"
return $?
}
Unfortunately it does not work with builtin commands like cd.
Also (if you have Bash 4.0) you can add a tiny function in your .bashrc to convert uppercase commands to lowercase before
executing them. Something similar to this:
function :() {
"${1,,}"
}
Then you can run the command by calling : Python in command line.
NB as @cas mentioned in the comments, : is a reserved bash word. So to avoid inconsistencies and issues you can replace it with c or something not already reserved.
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interesting, so i could make a
command_not_found_handle()function that convert the command to lowercase.eadmaster– eadmaster2016-05-29 14:13:34 +00:00Commented May 29, 2016 at 14:13 -
1update: it works, but not with bultin commands like
cd... btw still better than defining a lot of aliases...eadmaster– eadmaster2016-05-31 12:35:00 +00:00Commented May 31, 2016 at 12:35 -
See my updated answer. It might be something useful.Vombat– Vombat2016-05-31 17:26:33 +00:00Commented May 31, 2016 at 17:26
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1
:is a shell builtin, the null statement. It does nothing, and does so quite deliberately. It's useful as a placeholder in, e.g.,ifand similar statements:if something; then : else echo something ; fi, which would otherwise be a syntax error. seeman bashand search for ` : ` (space,colon,space).cas– cas2016-06-01 06:01:59 +00:00Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 6:01 -
Yes I know. I just wanted to have the shortest possible function name. Something else can be used instead.Vombat– Vombat2016-06-01 06:05:16 +00:00Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 6:05