Passing alias as function argument linux bash

Question

Hi everyone I'm learning how to use the .bashrc file in linux and as my title states I'm wondering how to make a function recognize an argument as an alias

I have an alias called home defined as: alias home=$HOME

and a function go defined as

function go(){
cd $1
ls $1
}

but when I do go home i get

bash: cd: home: No such file or directory ls: cannot access home: No such file or directory

when I want it to do go $HOME

how would i go about implementing this?

Answer 1

An alias is not a word substitution but a small newly created command:

$ alias bla=ls
$ bla
file1
file2
file3
…

So, it cannot be used in the way you assumed.

You might want to use variable substitution for this:

$ home=$HOME
$ function go() {
  cd "$(eval echo \$"$1")"
}
$ go home

In case you want to use an alias despite that this is an abuse, try this:

$ alias home=$HOME
$ function go() {
  cd "$(type "$1" | sed -e 's/.*is aliased to .//' -e 's/.$//')"
}
$ go home