I want to setup git alias to change a directory in windows

Question

I have the following git aliases setup

[alias]
    history = log --all --graph --decorate --oneline
    project1 = "cd /c/projects/test1"
    project2 = "cd c:/projects/test2"

But on running git project I get this error

Expansion of alias 'project1' failed; 'cd' is not a git command

I am trying this on a Windows 10 machine

Answer 1

Aliases to commands that are not git commands should begin with ':' :

[alias]
    foo1 = "cd foo1"    # will expand to "git cd foo1"
    foo2 = "! cd foo2"  # will expand to "cd foo2"

---

@phd is correct: I only thought of non git commands, but cd is specific and needs to modify the environment of the current shell .

I don't see an easy way to turn cd foo into an alias.

You should look at how to create an alias or function for the shell(s) you use.

Answer 2

Git aliases are useful for making aliases for long git commands, like your history command. However, for non-git commands , I wouldn't use git aliases.

The reason for the error you're getting is that your aliases are expanded to

git cd /c/projects/test1
git cd c:/projects/test2

But, cd is not a git command, what you want is

cd /c/projects/test1
cd c:/projects/test2

Since these commands are not related to git, I would pick another tool to do this.

From looking at your screenshot, it appears you are using Powershell. You can use powershell functions to achieve that:

function project1 { cd /c/projects/test1 }
function project2 { cd c:/projects/test2 }

Put this in your powershell profile.ps1 file to make these functions available every time you launch powershell. More info here .

Answer 3

For Windows (tested on 7,10) you may try https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOSKEY feature:

1. Put macros.doskey file to C:\Users\%userprofile%\bin with the following content

   mvnx=mvn clean install -s path\to\my\customsettings.xmlfile -T 2C... ... all your other windows aliases...

2. Open cmd and type the following information

   reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v Autorun /d "doskey /macrofile=\"%userprofile%\bin\macros.doskey\"" /f reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v Autorun

3. Restart Windows cmd
4. After that, once I'm type mvnx in Windows CMD it triggering the alias above.