Difference between revisions of "Aliases"

Revision as of 14:47, 3 February 2014

Aliases

Introduction

It does not matter if you are brand new to the Discworld or an old hand, aliases are extremely useful and not all that hard to create, once you get your hands dirty.

To create an alias use this syntax: "alias <ALIAS NAME> <COMMAND>". When as alias has $*$ or $1$, $2$ etc, it's where you insert whatever you want the alias to act on or with. For example alias bs backstab $1$ when I see a troll on Short street I would type bs troll and the alias will do the work.

So, we can see that, in its simplest form, an alias can be a letter or two that replaces a command or commands.

Basic Alias Notes

An alias can be as simple as the example above or something far more complex using multiple commands and various arguments and variables. First things first, have a look at the help alias tutorial file.

There is a lot to digest there. The talker is a good place to ask if you are stuck with an alias or just want to ask what other people do in a situation.

Categories

I like neat orderly lists, broken down into managable sections. A while back categories were introduced to the alias system and I rejoiced! Gone was the huge tagle of aliases that my alias command would generate. Gone was the endless hunting for that certain alias "I think it began with a T?"

I have several catagories set up where most of my alaises live. When looking for a certain one I can either do "alias sorted" to get a nice list by category or "alias show category <category>". I have several categories set up already that cover most of the aliases I have created. They are:

• Club_* Alias used for the various clubs to which I belong.
• Combat Fighting related commands
• Communication Talker, soul, and tell commands
• Crafts Crafts, laundering and fixing stuff, first aid and document forging
• Faith God botherer stuff
• Groups Aliases to make grouping easier
• Guild Various aliases for use in the guilds around the disc
• Idle Some aliases used for when I am hanging out talking
• System Scores, stats, skills and things that my character does not need to know about (so do not go telling him)
• Theft Various aliases I use across the Disc

Here is the alias I use to move things into the various categries. The $ifarg: is used to provide a syntax if I type asc with no arguments if I add arguments the alias will fire as normal.

asc $ifarg: alias set category $1$ $2$ $else$ frimble This alias is used to move an alias into a predefined category; frimble USAGE: asc <alias> <category>;frimble Acceptable categories are:;frimble Club_<clubname> Various clubs;frimble Combat (Fighting);frimble Communications (Talking);frimble Crafts (Crafty skills);frimble Faith (God botherer stuff);frimble Groups (Group commands); frimble Guild (guild stuff);frimble Idle (All things idle);frimble System (system commands made easy);frimble Theft (The art of stealing); frimble Other categories can be setup but think carefully about that first!; frimble -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- $endif$

So, if I were to type asc TEST Combat and hit ENTER My alias TEST would be moved into the COMBAT category. If I were to type asc ENTER I would get all the information after the $else$. It would tell me the reason for the alias, how to use it and what categories I already have set up (in case I forget). Not the most useful of aliases but a good illustration (and I do so like nice neat lists, and help text for what I've done).

Advanced Aliases

Useful Aliases

Easy Looting - By Heather

The alias part of this "alias" group is rather simple, but relies on nicknames to make it more useful. The main benefit of keeping the lists of items as nicknames rather than as part of the main alias, other than making the alias much easier to read, is that you can refer to the nicknames outside of the alias. For example, you come across a pile of stuff on the ground you can 'get lootlist'. The lootlist is my personal list of things I find worth grabbing, so you might want to customize the list to fit your needs. Also, the highcoin and lowcoin can be customized. I basically put everything worth over 10 AM pennies in the highcoin list, everything else goes in lowcoin.

The Aliases

alias loot get lootlist from $arg:corpses$;lootstore lootlist;get highcoin from $arg:corpses$;drop lowcoin;bury $arg:corpses$

alias lootstore put $*$ in lootbag

The Nicknames

nickname every gold jewellery&every silver jewellery&every crystal jewellery&every belly stone&every hairpin&every silk clothing&every satin clothing&every velvet clothing&every embroidered clothing&every kimono&every auriental dress&every thwab&every guttrah&every thobe&every sensible bag&every djelian dress&every expensive zori&every black leather whip&every dark sunglasses&every hunting knife&every chunky boots as lootlist

nickname every quarter-rhinu&every half-rhinu&every rhinu&every ten-rhinu&every fifty-rhinu&every ten-pence&every half-dollar&every dollar&every ten-dollar&every royal&every toon&every talent&every ra&every thanra&every stater&every decadrachma&every mina&every tyrant&every livre&every forin&every ducat&every fifty para&every dinar &every two dinar&every five dinar&every ten dinar&every fifty dinar&every hundred dinar&every thousand dinar&every toman&every shilling&every crown&every tencrown&every sovereign&every hedgehog as highcoin

nickname every Saveloy-rhinu&every Penny&every Ptascp&every Talon&every Derechmus&every Hemiobolus&every Obolus&every Drachma&every Cent&every Para&every Two Para&every Five Para&every Ten Para&every Farthing&every Ha'penny&every Penny&every Tuppence&every Thruppence&every Sixpence as lowcoin

As you can see, you simply type 'loot' and by default it takes all items from the lootlist nickname, stores it in your lootbag, gets only the high value coins, does housekeeping to drop the low value coins, and buries your corpse. If you don't type an argument after 'loot' it does this for all corpses in the room, otherwise you can type 'loot corpse 1' or whatever to target specific corpses. Note: You must identify a container as your lootbag for this to work, for example "identify black backpack as lootbag"

What to Alias?

Now that you have all this information you may wonder, "What aliases should I set up?" Apart from the examples above I would say be careful, it is easy to alias commands that really are simple enough as they are. You may end up with tons and tons of aliases, and down that road lies madness. If there is something you find yourself doing often, or it has many steps (like sewing your clothes) that may be a good candidate for an alias. In the end however, it really is up to you.