How do you use environment variables and aliases to simplify your relative paths in CLI?

Another use for environment variables is application security. It's best practice to never hard code application passwords into the software you're developing. Instead use an ".env" file or set an evironment variable, and configure your program to check for that variable. This ensures important passwords are not replicated into central code repositories.

Environment variables can be seen like user-defined constants that are created for portability and to shorten CLI syntax (to avoid writing too long lines). They are also an element of the OS, used for defining paths and config settings and can be assimilated with a key-value pairs. I mostly defined env vars related to date and time and as path shortcuts to apps or config files. I remember that, in the first years of Windows, user had to add the path of a new installed app into PATH env variable, manually, otherwise app didn't start. Nowadays, most of the modern installers do add their application’s path to the PATH environment variable automatically.

Long, often repeated commands, are a perfect usecase for Aliases. I'm thinking of Docker container startup, shutdown and cleanup operations.

Aliases appeared as a necessity to automate repetitive typing of same syntax. They are defining chunks of syntax that you use frequently they looks like a simple short variable name that you insert as a shortcut in you CLI coding to avoid writing too much or too often the same thing. They can be created to be temporary (for the current terminal session) or permanent. You can use aliases to create custom command you need in your day-to-day work to get faster and simplify your typing.

Another great thing is to add the aliases that you use frequently to your ~/.bashrc file so that this is retained in your session logins for the future as aliases only are retained within a current login session and don't forget to run source ~/.bashrc to 'reload your environment/login settings' (if you don't want to log-out and in again).

Another good use to this is for ssh-ing into multiple environments with varying or different settings.. eg opening tunnels or proxies on a different ports with the same user can be given different aliases eg alias me_docker='ssh $USER@$HOSTNAME -L 8520:localhost:8250' or when you do regular git pulls from master you can have an alias such as alias gpm='cd ~; git checkout master && git pull origin master; clear'

??Best practices in naming and documenting env variables and aliases help to maintain consistent style even when team componence is changing. Any user must be able to find fast what is the meaning of an env var or alias and also to where this definition is stored. ??Do not define or store in an env var or alias any personal data or secrets like passwords or API keys. ??Test the scripts/pipelines before usage to validate they work as expected. ??Use version control for config files to track the changes over time. ??For env variables, take care of their scope and case sensitivity. ??For aliases, take care that they may work only in interactive unless explicitly sourced. Verify the compatibility with the environment where pipeline runs.