Re: aliased command always considered in $PATH (-> is tab-completed)

[Chet Ramey]

Jan.Stary@ff.cuni.cz wrote:

> Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]:
> Machine: i386
> OS: linux-gnu
> Compiler: gcc
> Compilation CFLAGS:  -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='i386' 
> -DCONF_OSTYPE='linux-gnu' -DCONF_MACHTYPE='i386-redhat-linux-gnu' 
> -DCONF_VENDOR='redhat' -DSHELL -DHAVE_CONFIG_H  -D_GNU_SOURCE 
> -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64  -I.  -I. -I./include -I./lib -I/usr/include -O2 
> -march=i386 -mcpu=i686
> uname output: Linux praha1.ff.cuni.cz 2.4.9-e.38 #1 Thu Feb 19 05:40:22 CET 
> 2004 i686 unknown
> Machine Type: i386-redhat-linux-gnu
>
> Bash Version: 2.05
> Patch Level: 8
> Release Status: release
>
> Description:
>         Hello. If you setup an alias such as
>         antiword='antiword -s -w 79 -m 8859-2.txt'
>         then typing 'antiword' is gets tab-completed, even if there is not
>         really any 'antiword' command in $PATH. Similarly with other aliases.

Of course, since the aliases will be expanded even before the command is
expanded and executed.  Should not completion reflect reality?

>         Is this intentional? Are all aliased commands considered to 'be in
>         $PATH' and therefore subject to tab-completion? Is there a way to make
>         bash check that the 'actual' command (which starts the alias) is
>         really in $PATH?

Bash does not check the contents of an alias expansion -- it simply
expands the alias and uses the new words.

Chet