How to create an alias to get a column?

Question

Hello I would like to perform an alias to get an specific colum, parameter using a separator in order to achieve this i decided to use the cut command I created the alias as follows, and I saved it in the corresponding bashrc file:

alias getColumn='cat $1 | cut -d'$2' -f'$3''

However when I tested it I got:

VirtualBox:~$ getColumn /tmp/tmp.9Eusfk5cKZ , 3
cut: the delimiter must be a single character
Try 'cut --help' for more information.

SeVirtualBox:~$ getColumn /tmp/tmp.9Eusfk5cKZ "," "3"
cut: the delimiter must be a single character
Try 'cut --help' for more information.
cond try:

After feedback from here I tried:

#function to get a column
function getColumn() {
    cut -d"$2" -f"$3" "$1"
}

However I got:

VirtualBox:~$ getColumn topics " " 2
cut: the delimiter must be a single character
Try 'cut --help' for more information.

I am using ubuntu for this proves,

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 29 '16 at 17:30

3

From the bash man page:

There is no mechanism for using arguments in the replacement text. If arguments are needed, a shell function should be used.

Try something like this in your .bashrc instead:

getColumn() {
    cut -d"$2" -f"$3" "$1"
}

edited Dec 29 '16 at 17:30

wjandrea

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4
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answered Dec 29 '16 at 17:26

user4556274

4,877

1

@neo33 A function is definitely the better solution in this case. An alias cannot do what you want it to. – wjandrea Dec 29 '16 at 17:28
Let us continue this discussion in chat. – wjandrea Dec 29 '16 at 17:53

How to create an alias to get a column?

1 Answers1