THIS=alias2 FN=$TMPDIR/$THIS.script cat > $FN <<'EOF' # (echo "$1") EOF chmod u+x $FN shopt -s expand_aliases alias foo1='$FN one; source $FN two; source $FN three; $FN four' alias foo2='$FN one source $FN two source $FN three $FN four' foo1 foo2 rm -f $FN