I can't get expand_aliases to take effect in bash. I've tried a lot of different things, and nothing works. Here's the simple test case: /bin/bash -c 'shopt -s expand_aliases; alias cdtmp="cd /tmp"; alias; cdtmp; pwd;' And the output: $ /bin/bash -c 'shopt -s expand_aliases; alias cdtmp="cd /tmp"; alias; cdtmp; pwd;' alias cdtmp='cd /tmp' /bin/bash: cdtmp: command not found /home/user $ /bin/bash --version GNU bash, version 3.2.25(1)-release (i686-redhat-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc. (Yes, I'm using shopt instead of the -O option to bash, just to prove it's being done.) Any ideas?