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  • Is there a reason you don't make this a shell function instead, with the directory as an argument (possibly with a default value)?
    – Kusalananda ♦
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 18:33
  • The only reason would be aliases are easier to implement. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try using a function instead.
    – JS.
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 18:35
  • I still don't understand what it is you want to do. Sorry.
    – Kusalananda ♦
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 19:21
  • In your "Additional Example", you want to run the alias 50 times, each time with another TARGET_DIR value? That's literally what turning it into a function that takes the directory as an argument would allow you to do (see the end of my answer below). In fact, since the alias uses $TARGET_DIR unresolved, just changing this variable's value and calling the alias again would probably also work, although using a function would allow you to handle quoting better.
    – Kusalananda ♦
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 19:37
  • No, $TARGET_DIR is just the repository I'm working out of at the time. It changes every few days or so. The directory name is a hash of the git branch name. The whole point is to avoid typing in the long directory name each time. I want to change it in the .bashrc every once in a while and have all my aliases working and copy/pastable on the fly. Displaying functions doesn't resolve substitutions any better than displaying aliases.
    – JS.
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 21:08