alias command does not work

[Andrew Reilly]

On Fri, Jun 30, 2006 at 11:19:46AM +0530, Gobbledegeek wrote:
> alias vi=/usr/local/bin/vim
> or alias vi='/usr/local/bin/vim'
> 
> does not work. I am using bash shell

Both of those certainly do work, if you're using bash: I've just
checked.  So I suspect that you're not actually using bash.
What does your user's entry in /etc/passwd say?  Is bash listed
in /etc/shells?  What happens when you run "/usr/local/bin/bash
-login"?  Do you get bash then?

If you're convinced you are running bash, and you enter either
of those alias lines that you've mentioned, what does "type vi"
say?

Don't worry about the die-hards who advocate tcsh (the default
FreeBSD shell).  Csh syntax was proven to cause brain damage
long ago :-)

Cheers,

-- 
Andrew