Synopsis:
$ aliasctl (alias|assign get|set|match <lval> [<rval>])
Technical:
This function allows low-level manipulation of aliases and assigns.
The noun of the action is either "alias" or "assign". The verb is
either "get", "set", or "match". The "lval" must a valid variable name.
The "rval" is used only if the verb is "set", and is any sequence of
octets.
* The "GET" verb allows you to retrieve the value of an alias or assign
named by "lval".
* The "SET" verb allows you to set the value of an alias or assign named
by "lval" to "rval".
* The "MATCH" verb allows you to retrieve the list of all same-level
variable names that begin with "lval" (ie, command completion).
Wildcards are not allowed, but the simple use of a single asterisk is
allowed to match all assigns or aliases.
Practical:
You would use this function if you needed to get the text value of an
alias. For completeness, you can use this to get the value of an
assign, even though you can (obviously) get that value by $-referencing
it. You can set the value of an assign (comparable to using ASSIGN ),
and you can set the value of an alias (comparable to using ALIAS ). You
can get the list of aliases or assigns that "begin" with a certain
string, but it doesn't descend arrays (a period).
Examples:
$aliasctl(alias get join) returns current value of alias "join"
$aliasctl(alias set join //channel) sets an alias called "join"
$aliasctl(assign match foo) returns all vars starting with "foo"
$aliasctl(alias match foo.) returns all aliases of "foo" struct
See Also:
assign (5); alias (5); edit (8)
