If we try to implement our mkcd alias attempt from the previous section in functions, we meet with more success than our attempt with aliases. Here's one possible implementation:
bash$ mkcd() { mkdir -p -- "$1" && cd -- "$1" ; }
This function works as we wanted, ensuring the directory is created before we try to change into it:
bash$ pwd /home/bashuser bash$ mkcd createme bash$ pwd /home/bashuser/createme
Note that this mkcd function runs more than one command in its body: a mkdir call, and a cd call. It also includes the "$1" string, which expands to the value of the first positional parameter passed to the function. We can see this in action with set -x:
bash$ set -x bash$ mkcd createme + mkcd createme + mkdir ...
