How to create a permanent "alias"? [duplicate]

You can put such aliases in the ~/.bash_aliases file.

That file is loaded by ~/.bashrc. On Ubuntu 10.04, the following lines need to be uncommented to enable the use of ~/.bash_aliases. On Ubuntu 11.04 and later, it's already enabled:

if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
    . ~/.bash_aliases
fi

The aliased command will be available on any new terminal. To have the aliased command on any existing terminal one need to source ~/.bashrc from that terminal as,

source ~/.bashrc

Add your line into ~/.bashrc or into ~/.profile / ~/.bash_profile for remote logins.

If you want the command being executed for all users, put it into /etc/bash.bashrc.

Edit: In the latest versions of Ubuntu, ~/.bashrc automatically sources ~/.bash_aliases, so permanent aliases are best put into this file instead.

You can add the function below to your .bashrc file.

function permalias () 
{ 
  alias "$*";
  echo alias "$*" >> ~/.bash_aliases
}

Then open a new terminal or run source ~/.bashrc in your current terminal. You can now create permanent aliases by using the permalias command, for example permalias cls=clear.

Stick that command in the last line of your ~/.bash_profile