Questions about aliases.

[vefatica]

Below, (a) why isn't the redirection set up before %$ is assigned (as is the case with batch files)? and (b) why is test_alias unknown when I put the redirection first?

Is there a way to avoid either or both of these in the alias itself (i.e., not at run time)?

v:\> alias test_alias
echo %@len[%$]

v:\> test_alias foo > nul
9

v:\> 1>NUL test_alias foo
TCC: Unknown command "test_alias"

These go back to (at least) 4NTv8.

 

[rconn]

Alias expansion is performed before variable expansion or redirection. (If it wasn't, aliases would be mostly useless.)