# Aliases and Small Functions

Set-Alias gives a command a short name of your own, and when the job needs a parameter's value or more than one step, a small function does it instead; both go in your profile so they're there in every window.

Apprentice · PowerShell · Updated November 10, 2026

## After this lesson you can

- Make a short name with Set-Alias, and check first with Get-Command that the name is free
- Choose between an alias and a small function, and write the function when the job needs a value or more than one step

## Key takeaways

- `Set-Alias -Name touch -Value New-Item` makes a short name of your own. `Get-Command touch` first tells you whether the name is free.
- An alias is only another name for one command: it can't carry a parameter's value or a second step.
- A function is a name for a block of commands in `{ }`. `param($Path)` names the word typed after it.
- Aliases and functions typed at the prompt last until the window closes. Put them in your profile to keep them.

How many times a day do you type `Set-Location "$HOME\terminal-practice"`? Or make a new folder and then go into it, two commands, every time? Each one is only a few seconds, but they add up, and long commands are where typos live. Developers and IT techs keep a small set of short names for the jobs they do most. This lesson shows you how to make your own, and how to tell which kind of short name a job needs.

This lesson works in a practice folder of its own. Make it and go there:

```powershell
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$HOME\terminal-practice\shortcuts" | Out-Null
Set-Location "$HOME\terminal-practice\shortcuts"
```

They print nothing when they work.

## Your own alias: Set-Alias

*Short Names: Aliases* showed PowerShell's own nicknames, such as `ls` for `Get-ChildItem`. You can make your own. On a Mac and Linux, `touch` makes an empty file; let's give `New-Item` that name. First check that the name is free, so you don't hide a command that's already there:

```powershell
Get-Command touch
```

```text
Get-Command: The term 'touch' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
```

Here, red is good news: nothing is called `touch`. `Set-Alias` makes the alias: `-Name` is the short name, `-Value` the command it stands for.

```powershell
Set-Alias -Name touch -Value New-Item
touch shopping-list.txt
```

```text
    Directory: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\shortcuts

Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a---           11/9/2026  6:16 AM              0 shopping-list.txt
```

Run it a second time and New-Item says the file already exists: it never replaces one. `Get-Alias touch` now shows `touch -> New-Item`. Another favorite: `Set-Alias -Name np -Value notepad`, and `np shopping-list.txt` opens the file in Notepad.

## What an alias can't do

An alias is a nickname for **one command, and nothing more**. Try to give it a value too:

```powershell
Set-Alias -Name practice -Value "Set-Location $HOME\terminal-practice"
practice
```

```text
practice: The term 'Set-Location C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
```

PowerShell looked for one command whose whole name is `Set-Location C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice`, and there isn't one. Remove the broken alias with `Remove-Alias practice`. (Windows PowerShell 5.1 has no `Remove-Alias`: use `Remove-Item Alias:practice`.)

## A small function

When the short name needs a value or a second step, write a **function**: a name for a block of commands. Read it as "function, its name, then what it does, inside curly braces":

```powershell
function practice { Set-Location "$HOME\terminal-practice" }
practice
Get-Location
```

```text
Path
----
C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice
```

A function can also take a word, like a command takes a parameter. `param($Path)` names it, and the function uses it as `$Path`. This one makes a folder and goes into it, two steps in one word (*Parameters: param()*, in Module 6, does much more with `param`):

```powershell
Set-Location "$HOME\terminal-practice\shortcuts"
function mkcd {
    param($Path)
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    Set-Location $Path
}
mkcd "trip photos\day 1"
Get-Location
```

```text
Path
----
C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\shortcuts\trip photos\day 1
```

So: **one command under a new name, an alias. A value, or more than one step, a function.**

## Keep them in your profile

Aliases and functions you type at the prompt last until the window closes. To have them every day, add the same lines to your profile (`edit $PROFILE`, after keeping a copy as *Your Profile* shows), save, and load it with `. $PROFILE`. `Get-Command practice, mkcd, touch` then shows all three ready, as two Functions and an Alias.

Pick names that say what they do, and keep them short: you'll type them hundreds of times.

## Try it in the terminal

[Terminal Quest: The Clockwork Workshop, goal 5](https://www.ask-codey.com/games/terminal-quest/workshop/powershell/step): played right on the lesson page.

Winding the clock takes a long command with two options every time. An alias can't hold them: give it a short name with a function.

## Check yourself

2 questions to try on the lesson page.

## So what

The commands you type most deserve a short name: an alias when it's one command, a small function when it needs more, and your profile to keep them.

## Key terms

- [Alias](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/alias-powershell)
- [Set-Alias](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/set-alias)
- [Function](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/function-powershell)

## Cheat sheets

- [Aliases and Small Functions](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/powershell-aliases-and-small-functions-cheat-sheet)

## Related

- [Short Names: Aliases](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-aliases)
- [Your Profile](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-profile)
- [A Prompt in Your Colors](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-custom-prompt)

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-aliases-and-small-functions