bash_profile multiple line alias

Question

I'd like to run a command called "showfiles" which would run the command "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE" and "killall Finder" How do I go about doing this?

Answer 1

I'm not sure why the && option @gahooa suggested wouldn't work, but there is yet another option: create a shell function:

showfiles() {
    defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
    killall Finder
}

Answer 2

There are a couple ways of doing this...

Option 1:
Put a script in your ~/bin directory

echo "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE" > ~/bin/showfiles
echo "killall Finder" >> ~/bin/showfiles
chmod +x ~/bin/showfiles

Option 2:
Create an alias with AND to join the commands together:

alias showfiles='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE && killall Finder'

Note: this will only run the second command if the first is successful.