alias not working inside bash shell script

Question

When I search for .bashrc files in my system I get:

/etc/bash.bashrc
/etc/skel/.bashrc
/root/.bashrc
/usr/share/base-files/dot.bashrc

I changed:

/etc/bash.bashrc   
/root/.bashrc

I added the alias.

alias urldecode='python -c "import sys, urllib as ul; \
    print ul.unquote_plus(sys.argv[1])"'

alias urlencode='python -c "import sys, urllib as ul; \
    print ul.quote_plus(sys.argv[1])"'

When I run the command:

urlencode 'http://example.com space'

it works OK from the command line, but when I create an .sh file and put the same command there I get:

./tf.sh: line 19: urlencode: command not found

What is wrong?

Contents of tf.sh file:

IP=$(curl -d "tool=checurl"-X POST https://site.com/get.py)
url='https://site.com.com/'
path=$(grep -oP '(?<=get.py\?filetype=csv\&data=).*?(?=\")' <<< $IP)
pathfull="get.py?filetype=csv&data=$path"

full=$url$pathfull

#echo $full

urlencode '$full'

Possible duplicate of How to run an alias in a shell script? — pLumo, Jan 14 '19 at 08:55
You need to source the .bashrc in your script and make it interactive with set -i. — pLumo, Jan 14 '19 at 08:57

score 10 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 14 '19 at 08:55

10

Some comments:

When writing a bash shell script you are expected to start the script with:
```
#!/bin/bash
```
There is a known issue - Why doesn't my Bash script recognize aliases? - that bash script doesn't recognize aliases.

One option to solve the issue is:

At the beginning of your script (after the #!/bin/bash) add:

shopt -s expand_aliases

Following by source of the file with the aliases:

source /etc/bash.bashrc

answered Jan 14 '19 at 08:55

Yaron

13,173

1

Just did that, didnt work – Born vs. Me Jan 14 '19 at 09:01

Daniele Santi · Answer 2 · 2020-03-20T07:46:01.853

4

Bash aliases are usually not expanded in non interactive shells (which a script is). And really, you shouldn't rely on aliases in your scripts!

In the future you'll need the script on a different machine, and you'll forget about the aliases, and it won't work, and you'll waste time debugging the issue!.

Create your scripts to directly use the commands needed. Or create functions for complex or multi-line commands. Or better yet, create a "library" script with common used functions you need and then include that on your scripts.

That said, a simple way to call your script with all the aliases exported is to call it through an interactive bash session, via the -i flag:

$> bash -i ./tf.sh

Edit as per comment

A simple bash function wrapper for your python script would be:

function urldecode {
    PYTHON_ARG="$1" python - <<END
        import sys, urllib as ul
        print ul.unquote_plus(os.environ['PYTHON_ARG'])
    END
}

edited Mar 20 '20 at 07:46

answered Jan 14 '19 at 08:59

Daniele Santi

3,164

The alias is a python command How can I make it to run it directlu onj the scrtipt? Imn happy with that – Born vs. Me Jan 14 '19 at 09:02
@Bornvs.Me updated my answer – Daniele Santi Jan 14 '19 at 09:07
IS the syntax ok?
./te.sh: line 11: warning: here-document at line 4 delimited by end-of-file (wanted `END') ./te.sh: line 12: syntax error: unexpected end of file
– Born vs. Me Jan 14 '19 at 09:18
@Bornvs.Me sorry, there should be NO spaces before END. – Daniele Santi Jan 14 '19 at 09:19
File "", line 1 import sys, urllib as ul ^ IndentationError: unexpected indent
Python problem now :)
– Born vs. Me Jan 14 '19 at 09:29
@Bornvs.Me Sorry, don't know any python :D The text between <<END and END is passed verbatim to the command. Probably you want to remove all preceding spaces. – Daniele Santi Jan 14 '19 at 09:36
The code doesn't worko – Born vs. Me Jan 14 '19 at 09:36

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 13 '21 at 20:47

0

Use 'python2' instead of 'python' in alias. It worked like a charm for me.

alias urldecode='python2 -c "import sys, urllib as ul; print ul.unquote_plus(sys.argv[1])"'

answered Jan 13 '21 at 20:47

user58029

141

alias not working inside bash shell script

3 Answers3

Edit as per comment