django - Equivalent to Bash alias in PowerShell

Question

A newbie PowerShell question:

I'd like to make an alias in PowerShell exactly equivalent to this Bash alias:

alias django-admin-jy="jython /path/to/jython-dev/dist/bin/django-admin.py"

In tinkering with it so far, I've found this to be very difficult.

-PowerShell aliases only work with PowerShell commands + function calls

-No clear way to allow for an unlimited number of arguments on a PowerShell function call

-PowerShell seems to block stdout

---

It's worth noting that I've tried the solution put forth here: http://huddledmasses.org/powershell-power-user-tips-bash-style-alias-command/

And have gotten the following syntax-related error on loading up PowerShell:

---

The term 'which' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spell
ing of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At C:UsersDanDocumentsWindowsPowerShellMicrosoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1:9 char:27

+             $cmd = @(which <<<<  $_.Content)[0]
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (which:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

Answer 1

PowerShell aliases do not allow for arguments.
They can only refer to a command name, which can be the name of a cmdlet or a function, or the name / path of a script or executable.

To get what you are after, you need to define a function:

function django-admin-jy {
    jython.exe /path/to/jython-dev/dist/bin/django-admin.py @args
}

This uses a feature available since PowerShell 2.0 called argument splatting: you can apply @ to a variable name that references either an array or a hashtable.
In this case, we apply it to the automatic variable named args, which contains all arguments (that weren't bound to explicitly declared parameters - see about_Functions).

If you want a truly generic way to create aliases functions that take parameters, try this:

function New-BashStyleAlias([string]$name, [string]$command)
{
    $sb = [scriptblock]::Create($command)
    New-Item "Function:global:$name" -Value $sb | Out-Null
}

New-BashStyleAlias django-admin-jy 'jython.exe /path/to/jython-dev/dist/bin/django-admin.py @args'