Homebrew Aliases

This tap allows you to alias your Homebrew commands.

Install

brew tap homebrew/aliases

Usage

This works similar to the alias command:

# add aliases
$ brew alias ug='upgrade'
$ brew alias i='install'

# print all aliases
$ brew alias

# print one alias
$ brew alias i

# use your aliases like any other command
$ brew i git

# remove an alias
$ brew unalias i

Note: Some commands are reserved and can’t be aliased (Homebrew core commands as well as alias and unalias).

Additional Features

All aliases are prefixed with brew, unless they start with ! or %:

# 'brew ug' -> 'brew upgrade'
$ brew alias ug=upgrade

# 'brew status' -> 'git status'
$ brew alias status='!git status'

Note: You may need single-quotes to prevent your shell from interpreting !, but % will work for both types.

# Use shell expansion to preserve a local variable
# 'brew git status' -> '/path/to/my/git status'
$ mygit=/path/to/my/git
$ brew alias git="% $mygit"

Aliases can include other aliases:

$ brew alias show=info
$ brew alias print=show
$ brew print git # will run 'brew info git'

Aliases can be opened in $EDITOR with the --edit flag.

# Edit alias 'brew foo'
$ brew alias foo --edit
# Assign and edit alias 'brew foo'
$ brew alias foo=bar --edit

# This works too
$ brew alias --edit foo
$ brew alias --edit foo=bar

# Open all aliases in EDITOR
$ brew alias --edit

Note: If the named alias doesn't exist it will be created.