I wish Get-ChildItem -force to get executed when I type ll and I have this in my profile.ps1:
New-Alias -Name ll -Value Get-ChildItem -force
However, when I type ll, I can see that the -force argument is not being used. What am I doing wrong?
Edit: What I really wish to achieve is to show all files in a folder, even if they're hidden. And I wish to bind this to ll.
You cannot do that with aliases. Aliases are really just different names for commands, they cannot include arguments.
What you can do, however, is, write a function instead of using an alias:
function ll {
Get-ChildItem -Force @args
}
You won't get tab completion for arguments in that case, though, as the function doesn't advertise any parameters (even though all parameters of Get-ChildItem get passed through and work). You can solve that by effectively replicating all parameters of Get-ChildItem for the function, akin to how PowerShell's own help function is written (you can examine its source code via Get-Content Function:help).
To add to Joey's excellent answer, this is how you can generate a proxy command for Get-ChildItem (excluding provider-specific parameters):
# Gather CommandInfo object
$CommandInfo = Get-Command Get-ChildItem
# Generate metadata
$CommandMetadata = New-Object System.Management.Automation.CommandMetadata $CommandInfo
# Generate cmdlet binding attribute and param block
$CmdletBinding = [System.Management.Automation.ProxyCommand]::GetCmdletBindingAttribute($CommandMetadata)
$ParamBlock = [System.Management.Automation.ProxyCommand]::GetParamBloc($CommandMetadata)
# Register your function
$function:ll = [scriptblock]::Create(@'
{0}
param(
{1}
)
$PSBoundParameters['Force'] = $true
Get-ChildItem @PSBoundParameters
'@-f($CmdletBinding,$ParamBlock))
You can't. For this reason a few years ago I created a PowerShell module that does this. It is on the gallery and it is open source.
I was looking for the same experience. This is how to use it:
Add-Alias ls 'ls -force'
Add-Alias add 'git add'
Gallery: https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/posh-alias/
