How to implement your own command prefix in a shell?

Question

I've noticed that if you wanted to use, let's say .NET Core, you can call it from any directory by using dotnet and then your arguments after that.

Now let's say I need to run my own console application from any directory possible to encrypt files, I would like to call CryptApp --encrypt --foo, which results into my program encrypting that file.

Normally to run my program, which is a .NET Core console app, I need to do the following: dotnet CryptApp.dll -- --encrypt --foo. How can I convert that into CryptApp --encrypt --foo?

Note that I am not taking about a specific terminal here, because I want to know how to do this for mainly CMD (Windows) and the terminal in linux/macOS systems.

Also, I don't really know how to format this question title properly, so if there is someone that can get a better title, please go ahead and edit the title.

Write a script called `CryptApp.bat` on Windows and `CryptApp` on Linux/macOS and put it in your PATH. — that other guy, Apr 06 '18 at 20:41
Possible duplicate of [Add a bash script to path](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20054538/add-a-bash-script-to-path) — agc, Apr 06 '18 at 22:31
In Bash, it would be `alias CryptApp='dotnet CryptApp.dll --'`. — bipll, Apr 06 '18 at 23:54

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 06 '18 at 23:13

Create a file in a directory in you PATH variable named CryptApp.bat. Set the contents of CryptApp.bat to:

dotnet CryptApp.dll -- %~1 %~2

After the CryptApp.bat file exists in a directory in your PATH, you can use the command:

CryptApp --encrypt --foo

The contents of a CryptApp file on Linux depends on how the command is made available on the platform.

How to implement your own command prefix in a shell?

1 Answers1