# A function to help with creating directory aliases and providing
# completion for them.
# Taken from here:
#   http://blog.caioromao.com/2010/10/10/Custom-directory-completion.html
# Tweaked to work with more than just 'cd'
_make_dir_complete() {
    local aliasname=$1
    local prgname="__s_${aliasname}__"

    cd "$3" >/dev/null 2>&1
    local dirname=$(pwd -L)
    local realpath=$(pwd -P)
    cd - >/dev/null 2>&1

    FUNC="function $prgname() {
        local cur len wrkdir;
        local IFS=$'\n'
        wrkdir="$realpath"
        cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]};
        len=$((${#wrkdir} + 2));
        COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -S/ -d $wrkdir/$cur| cut -b $len-) );
    }"
    ALIAS="$aliasname () { $2 "$dirname/$*"; }"

    eval $FUNC
    eval $ALIAS
    complete -o nospace -F $prgname $aliasname
}

test -e ~/projects &&
    _make_dir_complete cdp cd ~/projects &&
    _make_dir_complete pdp pushd ~/projects

alias re='cd /home/terdon/research/'

alias foo='echo /path/to/bar'

$ ls `foo`