REBOL 3 Functions: alias

alias word name

Creates an alternate spelling for a word.

Arguments:

word [word!] - Word to alias

name [string!] - Name of alias

Description

Warning:

The alias function is an advanced feature, and must be used with care. It creates a symbolic equivalence not an additional variable. Be careful not to confuse alias with setting another word to the same value.

Create an alias for a word. The alias will be identical in every respect to the aliased word, including symbol comparison and value referencing.

alias 'print "pr"
pr "testing"
testing

You can see that they refer to the same value:

same? :print :pr
true

But, it goes deeper than that, because:

'print = 'pr
true

Special notes

The alias cannot be set if the word already appears anywhere within the script or has been used in any way prior to being aliased. Normally you will need to load aliases from a separate file or string.
Aliases are special because they work at the symbol table level, allowing them to be used for refinements and dialect words as well.