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PowerShell Commands

Set-Alias

Set-Alias [-Name*] <String> [-Value*] <String> [-Confirm] [-Description <String>] [-Force] [-Option {None | ReadOnly| Constant | Private | AllScope | Unspecified}] [-PassThru] [-Scope <String>] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]

The Set-Alias cmdlet creates or changes an alias (alternate name) for a cmdlet or for a command element, such as a function, a script, a file, or other executable. You can also use Set-Alias to reassign a current alias to a new command, or to change any of the properties of an alias, such as its description. Unless you add the alias to the Windows PowerShell profile, the changes to an alias are lost when you exit the session or close Windows PowerShell.

Parameters

-Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.

-Description <String>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies a description of the alias. You can type any string. If the description includes spaces, enclose it quotation marks.

-Force [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Indicates that the cmdlet will set a read-only alias. Use the Option parameter to create a read-only alias. The Force parameter cannot set a constant alias.

-Name <String>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies the new alias. You can use any alphanumeric characters in an alias, but the first character cannot be a number.

-Option <ScopedItemOptions>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Sets the value of the Options property of the alias. The acceptable values for this parameter are:

- None. Sets no options. (None is the default.) - ReadOnly. Can be deleted. Cannot be not changed, except by using the Force parameter. - Constant. Cannot be deleted or changed. - Private. The alias is available only in the current scope. - AllScope. The alias is copied to any new scopes that are created. - Unspecified.

To see the Options property of all aliases in the session, type `get-alias | format-table -property name, options -autosize`.

-PassThru [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Returns an object representing the item with which you are working. By default, this cmdlet does not generate any output.

-Scope <String>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies the scope in which this alias is valid. The acceptable values for this parameter are:

- Global

- Local

- Script

- A number relative to the current scope (0 through the number of scopes, where 0 is the current scope and 1 is its parent).

Local is the default.

-Value <String>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies the name of the cmdlet or command element that is being aliased.

-WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.

<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable.

Inputs
None
You cannot pipe input to this cmdlet.
Outputs
None or System.Management.Automation.AliasInfo
When you use the PassThru parameter, Set-Alias generates a System.Management.Automation.AliasInfo object representing the alias. Otherwise, this cmdlet does not generate any output.
Examples
  1. Create an alias for a Get-ChildItem: 
    PS C:\> Set-Alias -Name list -Value get-childitem

    This command creates the alias list for the Get-ChildItem cmdlet. After you create the alias, you can use list in place of Get-ChildItem at the command line and in scripts.

  2. Create an alias and omit parameter names: 
    PS C:\> Set-Alias list get-location

    This command associates the alias list with the Get-Location cmdlet. If list is an alias for another cmdlet, this command changes its association so that it now is the alias only for Get-Location .

    This command uses the same format as the command in the previous example, but it omits the optional parameter names, Name and Value . When you omit parameter names, the values of those parameters must appear in the specified order in the command. In this case, the value of Name ( list ) must be the first parameter and the value of Value (get-location) must be the second parameter.

  3. Make an alias read-only: 
    PS C:\> Set-Alias scrub Remove-Item -Option ReadOnly -Passthru | Format-List

    This command associates the alias scrub with the Remove-Item cmdlet. It uses the ReadOnly option to prevent the alias from being deleted or assigned to another cmdlet.

    The PassThru parameter directs Windows PowerShell to pass an object that represents the new alias through the pipeline to the Format-List cmdlet. If the PassThru parameter were omitted, there would be no output from this cmdlet to display (in a list or otherwise).

  4. Create an alias for Notepad.exe: 
    PS C:\> Set-Alias np c:\windows\notepad.exe

    This command associates the alias, np , with the executable file for Notepad. After the command completes, to open Notepad from the Windows PowerShell command line, just type `np`.

    This example demonstrates that you can create aliases for executable files and elements other than cmdlets.

    To make the command more generic, you can use the Windir environment variable (${env:windir}) to represent the C\Windows directory. The generic version of the command is `Set-Alias np ${env:windir}\notepad.exe`.

  5. Create an alias for a command with parameters: 
    PS C:\> function CD32 {set-location c:\windows\system32}
PS C:\> Set-Alias go cd32

    These commands show how to assign an alias to a command with parameters, or even to a pipeline of many commands.

    You can create an alias for a cmdlet, but you cannot create an alias for a command that consists of a cmdlet and its parameters. However, if you place the command in a function or a script, then you can create a useful function or script name and you can create one or more aliases for the function or script.

    In this example, the user wants to create an alias for the command `Set-Location C:\windows\system32`, where Set-Location is a cmdlet and C:\Windows\System32 is the value of the Path parameter.

    To do this, the first command creates a function called CD32 that contains the Set-Location command.

    The second command creates the alias go for the CD32 function. Then, to run the Set-Location command, the user can type either `CD32` or `go`.

Additional Notes
 * An alias is an alternate name or nickname for a cmdlet or command element. To run the cmdlet, you can use 
 its full name or any valid alias. For more information, see about_Aliases. To create a new alias, use 
 Set-Alias * or New-Alias. To delete an alias, use Remove-Item. A cmdlet can have multiple aliases, but an 
 alias can only be associated with one cmdlet at a time. If you use Set-Alias * to associate the alias with a 
 different cmdlet, it is no longer associated with the original cmdlet. You can create an alias for a cmdlet, 
 but you cannot create an alias for a command with parameters and values. For example, you can create an alias 
 for Set-Location *, but you cannot create an alias for `Set-Location C:\Windows\System32`. To create an alias 
 for a command, create a function that includes the command, and then create an alias to the function. To save 
 the aliases from a session and use them in a different session, add the Set-Alias * command to your Windows 
 PowerShell profile. Profiles do not exist by default. To create a profile in the path stored in the $profile 
 variable, type `New-Item -Type file -Force $profile`. To see the value of the $profile variable, type 
 `$profile`.

 * You can also save your aliases by using Export-Alias to copy the aliases from the session to a file, and 
 then use Import-Alias to add them to the alias list for a new session. You can also refer to Set-Alias by its 
 built-in alias, sal *. For more information, see about_Aliases.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. It is attributed to Microsoft Corporation and can be found here.

PowerShell Commands