Equivalent to Bash Alias in Powershell

Question

Hi there, a newbie powershell question:

I'd like to make an alias in powershell exactly equivalent to this Bash alias:

alias django-admin-jy="jython /path/to/jython-dev/dist/bin/django-admin.py"

In tinkering with it so far, I've found this to be very difficult.

-Powershell Aliases only work with Powershell commands + function calls

-No clear way to allow for an unlimited number of args on a powershell function call

-Powershell seems to block stdout

---

UPDATE: Bounty of 150 pts added for a working implementation of bash alias simulation in powershell.

It's worth noting that I've tried the solution put forth here: http://huddledmasses.org/powershell-power-user-tips-bash-style-alias-command/

And have gotten the following syntax-related error on loading up powershell:

---

The term 'which' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spell
ing of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At C:\Users\Dan\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1:9 char:27

+             $cmd = @(which <<<<  $_.Content)[0]
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (which:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

---

I'll accept a fix to this as an answer as well.

Answer 1

Functions can have arbitrarily many arguments. You just need to use $args to access them.

As for the stdout issue: What exactly are you experiencing?

Answer 2

PowerShell aliases can be used for any "command" including EXEs:

new-alias n notepad.exe

Update: as mentioned in the comments, PowerShell aliases do not allow for arguments. They are simple "aliases" for a command name and nothing more. To get what you after (I think since I'm not familiar with Bash aliases) try this:

function django-admin-jy {
    jython.exe /path/to/jython-dev/dist/bin/django-admin.py @args
}

It uses a feature of PowerShell 2.0 called argument splatting. You can apply @ to a variable name that references either an array or a hashtable. In this case, we apply it to the variable named args which contains all the unnamed parameters.

If you want a truly generic way to create aliases functions that take parameters, try this:

function New-BashStyleAlias([string]$name, [string]$command)
{
    $sb = [scriptblock]::Create($command)
    New-Item "Function:\global:$name" -Value $sb | Out-Null
}

New-BashStyleAlias django-admin-jy 'jython.exe /path/to/jython-dev/dist/bin/django-admin.py @args'

Regarding the issue with Joel's approach, I suspect he has which aliased to Get-Command. Try replacing which with Get-Command.