Aliases

An alias is a short word that sends a longer command. You type the word, and Merlin sends the command. A macro does this from a key; an alias does it from a word.

Find your aliases in Settings > Aliases.

Add an alias

1. Go to Settings > Aliases, then click Add alias. A new empty row opens at the top of the list.
2. Fill in the two fields:
   • Alias: The word you’ll type. Use one word, in any case.
   • Sends: The command Merlin sends when you type the word.
3. Click away from the row when you’re done.

Merlin saves each alias as you type. To add another alias, press Enter; a new blank row opens at the top of the list.

Aliases are listed alphabetically. A new row moves into place when you click away from it. If you leave a new row empty, it disappears when you click away.

Example: Type rest instead of sit

1. In the Alias field, type rest.
2. In the Sends field, type sit.
3. In the command line, type rest and press Enter.

The game receives sit, and the Game panel shows > sit, because that’s the command that actually went out.

When you press the Up Arrow key, you get rest back, because that’s what you typed.

Remove an alias

Click the More button at the end of the alias’s row, then choose Delete.

Pass along what you type

Most aliases need something from you. In the Sends field, $args stands for everything you type after the alias.

Here’s how to read each one:

• hm: Cast heal on whatever you type after hm. When you type hm Marcus, the game receives cast heal Marcus.
• give: The first word goes before to, and the second goes after it. When you type give sword guard, the game receives give sword to guard.
• att: Attack whatever you’re already fighting. When you type att by itself, the game receives attack rat, using whatever $monster already holds.
• hunt: Run your Hunt script and pass it what you typed. When you type hunt rats, it runs your Hunt script with rats as its argument.

Words and variables

• Single words: $arg1 through $arg9 are the single words you type after the alias.
• Variables: Any other $name is a variable, the same kind your scripts read, filled in when you press Enter. $monster in the table above is one of the game’s variables. To see the full list, go to Settings > Variables.

If something is missing

If an alias needs something after it and you type the word by itself, Merlin tells you and sends nothing. For example, typing hm by itself shows:

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hm needs something after it — its alias uses $args

If an alias uses numbered words and you type too few, the message names the one that’s empty. For example, typing give sword shows:

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give needs more after it — its alias uses $arg2

An alias that’s missing what it needs never sends anything.

Do several things with one word

An alias sends one command. To make a word do several things, put the steps in a script and have the alias run it, the way hunt does in the table above.

A script waits for the game between each step. Sending several commands at once doesn’t wait: the game queues them and runs them later, whether you still want them or not.

Where aliases work

• Only in the command line. Scripts, triggers, macros, and timers don’t use aliases. If a script says hm Marcus, the game receives hm Marcus, not cast heal Marcus. In a script, write the full command.
• Only once per command. For example, make an alias l that sends look. When you type l, look goes to the game. Merlin doesn’t check look for another alias, so one alias can never set off another.

Alias names

• One word. heal me isn’t an alias name.
• Any case. HM and hm are the same alias.
• Can’t start with / or a period. Merlin reserves these for its own commands and for running scripts.
• Must be unique. Two aliases can’t share a name. If you make one anyway, the older alias keeps working, and the new one is marked in red so you can see why it does nothing.

If a name breaks one of these rules, it’s marked in red where you typed it, and the alias does nothing until you fix it. Merlin doesn’t change anything you typed.

Use a game command as an alias name

An alias can use the same word as a game command. If you name an alias look, typing look runs your alias instead of the game’s look command until you delete the alias.

This is intentional. Sometimes you want a game word to do something different for a while.

Organize aliases into groups

1. Click the More button at the end of an alias’s row.
2. Choose Move to group, then choose an existing group or New group and enter a name.

The alias appears under the group heading.

To open or close a group, click the arrow next to its heading.

To remove an alias from a group, choose More > Move to group > No group.

Edit the aliases file

Aliases are stored one per line in aliases.txt. Find it in the game’s Config folder inside your Merlin folder:

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#alias {hm} {cast heal $args}
#alias {att} {attack $monster}

You can edit the file in Merlin or in a text editor. A change made in one appears in the other.

If an alias belongs to a group, the group appears at the end of its line:

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#alias {hm} {cast heal $args} {group=Heal}

Comments

A line beginning with // is a comment, the same as in a script. Merlin keeps comments where you put them.

Important: In this file, #alias is how a real alias line starts, so always start a comment with //, never #.

Choose an alias, substitute, or macro

These three look alike but do different jobs:

An alias never changes what the game says, and a substitute never sends anything.