I have a config.fish file with so many aliases I sometimes have to open the file to see what the actual command I have aliased.

After facing that problem for too long, my zsh setup now includes a $HOME/.zsh_functions/whmap function. It searches all available commands (including aliases, functions, etc.) for the string pattern I pass as an argument:

$ whmap encode
dirac_encoder is /usr/bin/dirac_encoder
gtk-encode-symbolic-svg is /usr/bin/gtk-encode-symbolic-svg
h264encode is /usr/bin/h264encode
mencoder is /usr/bin/mencoder
mimeencode is /usr/bin/mimeencode
mimencode is /usr/bin/mimencode
mmencode is /usr/bin/mmencode
theora_encode is /usr/bin/theora_encode
uuencode is /usr/bin/uuencode

$ whmap whmap
whmap () {
	noglob builtin whence -mavf *$1*
}

(The nonsensical name is a relic of a much earlier version of the function, when it performed a path-only search via noglob builtin whence -map *$1*. I later extended it to also search function names and builtins.)

So as long as I can remember at least part of an alias or function’s name, I can usually find it.

Doesn’t help if I can’t remember the name, of course. But I don’t use a lot of those “shortcut”-type aliases — like, two-letter equivalents for a certain command, or whatever — specifically because of that problem. I figure, a mnemonic isn’t really helpful unless it’s so obvious and unforgettable that there’s no question what it would be. (Like the alias ll='ls -l' that’s part of coreutils’ /etc/profile.d/colorls.sh ­— though I don’t even use that one, myself, because typing ls -l is just not that time-consuming.)

no=’nano’
sno=’sudo nano’
cdapts=’cd /etc/apt/sources.list.d/’
d20=’rolldice 1d20′
luxup=’lumeus +5%’
luxdn=’lumeus -5%’
upd=’sudo apt update’
upg=’sudo apt upgrade’
evfish=’pluma ~/.config/fish/config.fish’ (which I use to easily open my fish config file to add, remove or modify my aliases).

Some aliases invoke multiple commands.
gc=’cd /downloads/git/ ; git clone’

I even have aliases which call back other aliases.
up=’upd ; upg’

I have copied some commands into my .bashrc just in case.

If anybody actually reads this and want the full list of fish aliases, I’ll make available as a gist file on github.

Thank you.

On another note, Disqus needs to bring support for at least, Markdown and preformatted text.

For a designated number of minutes, yes.