[SOLVED]Re: [gentoo-user] [A bit off-topic] Bash alias and &

[Andrew Lowe]

On 06/12/16 23:07, Andrew Lowe wrote:
> On 06/12/16 22:43, Alan McKinnon wrote:
>> On 12/06/2016 16:33, Nico Verrijdt wrote:
>>> Hi Andrew,
>>>
>>> 2016-06-12 16:26 GMT+02:00 Andrew Lowe <agl@×××××××.au
>>> <mailto:agl@×××××××.au>>:
>>>
>>>     Hi all,
>>>              A bit off topic here, but there are plenty of people who
>>>     seem to know their shells back to front so here goes.
>>>
>>>              I have set up a Win32 based development environment,
>>>     bash/cc/ls/etc/etc, for 1st year Engineering students who have to
>>>     learn C on a command line. It's fine for me to remember to put the &
>>>     at the end of the command when I fire up the editor but for them,
>>>     it's major angst.
>>>
>>>              The first thing that comes to mind is an alias. Just off
>>>     the top of my head I tried:
>>>
>>>              alias "npp=npp %1 &"
>>>
>>> Shouldn't this be: alias npp="npp %1 &"  ?
>>>
>>>
>>>     npp being the editor, but that didn't work. Is an alias the
>>>     best/easiest way to do this and if so, what would the syntax be, or
>>>     is there a better way?
>>>
>>>              Any thoughts, greatly appreciated,
>>>
>>>                      Andrew
>>>
>>>
>>> Hope this helps,
>>> Nico
>>
>>
>> Or just tell them to remember to add the & at the end.
>> With an alias what will they do when they don't want it?
>>
>> Or look at it this way:
>>
>> It's syntax, it's important. C is probably more syntax-critical than any
>> other language around (binds to the right, anyone?) so what's the
>> problem with requiring correct syntax on the command line as well?
>>
>> Obligatory disclaimer: I've recently had a bellyache full of dumb people
>> who insist I put code when a human (themselves) belongs...
>>
>     Yes, I agree BUT, this is a "half subject" in a common first year of
> an Engineering degree. These are people who will become
> Civil/Mechanical/Electrical/Chemical Engineers and they have no desire
> to learn programming. To put it bluntly, all they are interested in is
> their car, getting drunk and trying to get a root - the order may vary,
> but that is the top three priorities. Anything else is just too much to
> think about.
>
>     In reality, I'm doing this to make my life easier. As much as I tell
> them to do something, write up documents that tell them what to do and
> reiterate what they have to do, I still get the question "It's broken,
> it won't do as I want...."
>
>     Andrew
>
> p.s. Nico's point was a typo on my part in the email.
>

	Simple answer to this which a single google search found. You CAN'T 
pass parameters to an alias under Bash. You need to do a function. A 
simple function of:

npp()
{
     npp $1 &
}

was all I needed.

	Andrew